Harry's Beginning
by seking
Summary: Getting beat up by Dudley and his gang, turning the teachers wig blue, wearing baggy clothes; this is Harry's life at muggle school the year before he goes to Hogwarts. Plus the mysterious appearance of a certain werewolf we all know and love. Please R&R!
1. Chapter 1: The First Day of School

**Disclaimer: Harry and all the people you recognize belong to JK Rowling. Everyone that you don't belong to me. **

Harry sighed and looked up at the brick building that had been his school for the past four years. He was nine and was beginning his new year at Frasier Primary School. The school gleamed with the preparations that had been made for the new year. The grass was freshly cut, all of the gum had been scraped off the sidewalk, and a hand painted sign welcomed all of the students to a new year of learning. The kids looked fresh too. Everyone had a new haircut, new school clothes, and a new backpack. Harry looked down at his cousins' too big hand-me downs and sighed.

All around him kids were greeting each other after being apart for three months for the summer holidays. With no one to say hello to, he trudged up the path towards the school. Dudley came up behind him, panting as he walked up the sidewalk to the big metal doors. He shoved past Harry and went to find his friends. Harry sighed and pushed his taped glasses back up his nose. Dudley's gang was not only the reason his glasses were broken, they were also the reason he didn't have any friends. Sure he was anti-social, but they beat up anyone who tried to be nice to him.

Hoisting his backpack up Harry entered the school and found his way to his new classroom. He looked around. There were five rows of desks and a long counter in the back laden with books, colored paper, markers, and other school supplies. The carpet was faded in places and stained with glue and paint. The walls bore cheery signs reminding kids that "Learning is fun!" and to "Be Responsible!" Dudley was already there with his friends Piers, Dennis, Malcolm, and Gordon. Piers turned his ugly rat face towards Harry and glared at him. Piers had always hated Harry and the feeling was quite mutual.

The bell rang. Kids continued to talk and laugh until a young thin woman with wavy brown hair and brown eyes walked into the room. She set her purse and a stack of papers down on the teacher's desk and turned to smile warmly at the class.

"Class please take your seats", she said smiling. Chairs scraped and backpacks thumped as everyone found a place to sit.

"I'm Miss Anderson and I'll be your teacher this year. I'm very excited to have a chance to get to know each and every one of you! This year will be all about learning new things. I'm going to learn how to be a teacher for the first time and you all get to learn so many wonderful things about math, science, literature..." Harry couldn't help but smile back at her. Although her speech sounded a little rehearsed (which in fact it was) she seemed very nice and not at all like the past teachers he had had. Plus, if she was new this year she wouldn't know him as the kid that turned Mrs. Lammers' wig blue. All of his other teachers really hated him for that, even though he would never be able to explain how he did it. The truth was that lots of unexpected and unexplainable things happened around Harry and he couldn't figure out how. There was the incident with the revolting sweater Aunt Petunia tried to make him wear. He didn't know why it kept shrinking when she tried to make him wear it, only that it did.

But this year was going to be different Harry was sure of it. He was going to keep his temper under control, not let Dudley pick on him on the playground, get good marks, and maybe, he hardly dared to hope for it, make a friend. All his life the only thing Harry ever really wanted was a friend to talk to. He sighed and turned his attention back to Miss Anderson who was taking attendance.

"Polkeiss, Piers?" She called out.

"Here," Piers answered slouching over in his seat. Harry could tell he was already bored. Piers really hated school

"That's a nice name Piers. Is it French?" She smiled at him, trying to get him to be a little more interested in the class. He stared at her stupidly.

"Uh, I dunno". She nodded and looked back at the list. "Potter, Harry?" She called. A few kids sniggered in the back row. Harry ignored them; he was pretty used to getting laughed at. "Here," he answered looking up at her. "It's nice to meet you Harry. Tell me, would you like to sit closer to the front so that you can still see the board in case you forget your glasses?" Harry blushed knowing that his glasses must look ridiculous because of all the tape he had to use to keep them together. "No thank you ma'am, this seat is fine."

She continued to call role, asking each student in turn a question to try and get to know them better. When she had finished attendance Miss Anderson made another little speech, this time about the rules of the classroom. She talked about how bullying wouldn't be tolerated and neither would cheating, talking without raising a hand, or violence. Harry heard Dudley snort in the back row. He would undoubtedly be breaking all of those rules in the first week. She pulled a stack of paperback books out of the closet by the door.

"Alright class I thought we would start the year off with a favorite book of mine, James and the Giant Peach". She quickly handed out copies to everyone. Harry looked at the cover. Standing on top of a very large peach was a boy (he could only assume that was James), and very large centipede, ladybug, and grasshopper.

"Why don't we begin the book together?" The teacher asked brightly. She looked at the seating chart before saying, "Dudley why don't you start reading the first page out loud?" Dudley stared at her. Harry knew that Dudley hated to read more than anything else in the whole world and his parents supported that. Uncle Vernon never encouraged him to read at home. He always said, "Why read when you could just watch the movie instead?"

"I don't really want to," he said smirking.

"Well," she said looking up at him, "I wasn't really giving you that option. Page one if you please." The class waited for what would happen next. Dudley had to train new teachers to his way of doing things. Everyone knew that teachers couldn't make Dudley do anything he didn't want to. They knew the drill. A teacher would try, Dudley would give them lip, he would get in trouble, his father would get involved, and teachers would never punish Dudley ever again. That was what always happened. He scowled at Miss Anderson and she smiled back.

"What's the matter Dudley? Don't you like reading out loud?" He shrugged and she nodded understandingly.

"Tell you what. How about I start the book and when you know the story better then you can read some, alright?" He shrugged again. She was new and so she didn't get it. He would never read out loud, he would never answer questions, and he certainly wasn't going to write anything up on the board. But she didn't understand that and so instead she cleared her throat and opened the book to the first page.

"James and the Giant Peach, chapter one. '_Here is James Henry Trotter when he was about four years old. Up until this time, he had had a happy life, living peacefully with his mother and father in a beautiful house beside the sea. There were always plenty of other children for him to play with, and there was the sandy beach for him to run about on, and the ocean to paddle in. It was the perfect life for a small boy. Then, one day, James's mother and father went to London to do some shopping, and there a terrible thing happened. Both of them suddenly got eaten up (in full daylight, mind you, and on a crowded street) by an enormous angry rhinoceros which had escaped from the London Zoo. Now this, as you can well imagine, was a rather nasty experience for two such gentle parents. But in the long run it was far nastier for James than it was for them._'"

The class was transfixed. She had the perfect voice for reading out loud. It was smooth and soft but accented all the right words and held an audience captive. Her intense love of books and reading was obvious. She had stopped reading because a girl named Veronica Brox raised her hand.

"Yes Veronica?" Miss Anderson asked.

"Okay wait I'm confused. So a real rhino ate up James' parents?"

"Yes, an escaped rhinoceros, from the London zoo".

"Like ate, as in like swallowed?"

"Yes."

"That's disgusting."

"It is a little bit isn't it? Oh well, perhaps you would like to keep reading for us?"

"Oh, um, okay." She cleared her throat. '_Their troubles were all over in a jiffy. They were dead and gone in thirty-five seconds flat. Poor James, on the other hand, was still very much alive, and all at once he found himself alone and frightened in a vast unfriendly world.'"_

Harry, who thought he was really going to like this book, was finding that, so far, he really didn't. It reminded him that, although his own parents hadn't been eaten by a rhinoceros, they too had died when he was young leaving him all alone in a vast unfriendly world. It didn't take long for the other kids at school to start calling Harry James on the playground and asking him if he had any peaches for lunch. Harry, who didn't know that his father's name had also been James, didn't find it funny at all. He was unhappy that the other kids had found a reason besides his baggy clothes and taped glasses to make fun of him. When Miss Anderson figured out that the kids had nicknamed Harry James after the book character, she felt bad for him. The poor kid seemed nice and very polite. She wondered why no one wanted to be his friend.

**AN: Thanks for reading my story so far! I know it may start a little slow but it gets better I promise. Keep reading and I promise that by the time you get past chapter 5 you'll be hooked. As usual any reviews are highly appreciated :)**


	2. Chapter 2: The Playground

Chapter 2: The Playground

A week later Harry was sitting alone under a tree at recess, but he was pretty used to that. When Harry wasn't being chased by Dudley's gang or hiding from them he was alone. He turned the page of the book he was reading and continued to sit, totally engrossed. He didn't notice the boys chasing each other around the jungle gym or the girls playing jump rope and hopscotch. Veronica and her friend Anna were busy turning the rope for their newest friend Elena. Elena had just transferred in that year from a different school and she and the other girls had hit it off immediately. Elena looked over at Harry and accidentally tripped over the rope. Her friends stopped spinning it.

Hey Anna," She said straightening up. "Who's that kid over there?"

"Who Harry?" Anna asked.

"I don't know, the one reading under the tree."

"That's Harry. He's always alone."

"Why?" Elena asked although she could guess why. Since her father was in the military she had been the new kid enough times to know why some kids fit in and others didn't. Anna laughed.

"Just look at him," she said. "His clothes don't fit, he looks like he hasn't brushed his hair ever, and his glasses are taped together."

"So?" Elena asked. He seemed nice enough. At her new schools there had always been kids that would be nice to her no matter what and it had stopped her life from being miserable. She would be willing to overlook Harry's appearance to be that nice kid to him.

"Well, it's not just what he wears. Actually I don't care much about that. It's his cousin Dudley."

"You mean that fat kid that sits in the back and makes farting noises with his friends?"

"That's the one."

"What about him?"

"Well, Dudley and his gang hate Harry and no one wants to get on their bad side if you know what I mean." Elena nodded. She had watched Gordon threaten to punch a kid in the face for not giving him his lunch money. She certainly wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of that. Anna looked over at Harry."

"I do kinda feel bad for him," she said. "He doesn't have any friends and he has to live with his Aunt and Uncle because his parents died in a car crash or something." Elena frowned.

"That's really sad."

"Yeah," Veronica shrugged. "He doesn't seem sad though. I don't know; he doesn't talk much. Dudley says he's weird at home too, and he gets in trouble a lot." Anna, who had been twirling her hair around her finger this whole time, suddenly looked up and giggled.

"Elena if you want to talk about boys let's talk about Seth Gulden," she said. "Who is Seth Gulden?" Elena asked. "See that super cute guy with the blonde hair and the blue sweater?" "Yeah" "That's him." Anna lowered her voice to a whisper. "I heard he had a girlfriend last year and they lasted like a whole month." "Whoa, that's a long time." Elena looked impressed. "I've never had a boyfriend." "Neither have I," said Veronica sighing. "Mum says I shouldn't worry about it till I'm older anyway." Anna giggled again. "What does she know?" she asked. "Look, I'm just saying that when we pick history project partners I'm going to have my fingers crossed that I get Seth." The other girls nodded in agreement and spent the rest of recess teasing each other about who would get Seth as a partner and who would get stuck working with Dudley or any of his other friends. When the bell rang they grabbed their jump rope and went inside. *** Back inside, Miss Anderson smiled at the class as they came in. When they were all seated again she said, "Okay class, if you remember I said that I would be announcing the partner pairs for the castle project after lunch. When you find out who your partner is we'll go to the library and the two of you together will pick a castle to research, find out the history on it, and write a report. Next week we will present these reports in front of the class. Remember, you get extra credit if you think of a creative way to present." While she was explaining she passed out a packet of information to the class explaining the finer details of the project and the grading rubric.

"The partners are as follows: Dennis Clarke and Eva Hall, Gordon Cooper and Piers Polkeiss, Malcom Harris and Dudley Dursely, Veronica Brox and Emily Wood, Anna Richards and Rebecca Bell, Harry Potter and Elena Dawson, and Seth Gulden and Sophie Kemp. Alright everyone, find your partner and get to work." Elena smiled shyly at Harry.

"Harry," he said and smiled back. Neither of them said anything for a minute and then Harry asked,

"So, any idea what castle we should do?" She looked thoughtful for a minute then said,

"Um, I know when we lived in Scotland we visited a few. They were all pretty interesting. I really love visiting castle ruins actually." She looked a little bit embarrassed. Harry didn't think that was anything to be embarrassed about. He was sure that if he was ever allowed to visit a castle he would love it too.

"That sounds like a good idea." He said. "Do you remember any of the names?"

The next day at lunch Elena, Veronica, and Anna were all sitting together.

"Miss Anderson has to be the nicest teacher in the whole entire world," Anna declared suddenly. The other two nodded in agreement.

"She's nice to everyone," Veronica added. "Like yesterday I did really badly on my spelling test and she told me that I could retake it if I needed to."

"Yeah!" Anna exclaimed. "And that one time Sophie was late she didn't even yell at her, she just told her to try and be on time. I don't know any other teacher at this school that would do that. They're all so strict."

"I wish she had yelled at her," Veronica said menacingly. "I hate Sophie." Elena looked up from her sandwich, surprised.

"Why?" She asked. "She seems really nice."

"Oh she seems nice alright, till she's stabbing you in the back. Stupid Sophie with her shiny blonde hair and perfect clothes, she's such a goody two shoes I can't stand her!" Veronica glared at Sophie from behind and stabbed her spoon into her fruit harder than she needed to. Anna looked at her sympathetically.

"They used to be best friends," She explained. "But it turns out Sophie's only nice to you when she needs something from you. Which is I guess why she's being so nice to Seth. No doubt he's going to write the entire report for her."

"Why does she get to work with him?" Veronica pouted. "I would be a much better partner." Anna nodded in support and Elena, who didn't really care, merely shrugged.

"I suppose I shouldn't complain," Veronica said. "At least I don't have to work with Harry." She looked up at Elena who looked surprised again.

"Why wouldn't you want to work with him?" She asked. "He's really nice and he works really hard. He did most of the research, a lot of the writing, and he has a lot of really great ideas on how to do the presentation."

"Yeah but he's so weird," Anna protested. "Like this one time two years ago he turned our teacher's wig blue. He'll deny it but he totally did. No one really knows how he did it."

"And he's got that funny scar on his forehead," Veronica said. "I mean who has a scar shaped like a lightning bolt?" Elena sighed.

"Well I don't care." She said. "I think he's nice and he just seems incredibly lonely to me. You know he told me that his Aunt and Uncle never even celebrate his birthday or give him presents or anything?" The other two looked shocked.

"No presents?" Veronica asked incredulously. Elena shook her head.


	3. Chapter 3: The Spelling Bee

**Chapter 3: The Spelling Bee**

September and October passed in a whirl of activity. The classroom reflected the changing months. Each day the girls would pick up pretty leaves or flowers that they found on the playground and give them to Miss Anderson. She would pin them to the bulletin board or hang them upside down to dry. Paper pumpkins were still tacked to the wall from Halloween and pictures of all of the kids in their costumes were hung up too. Inside the classroom all the kids scribbled busily in their workbooks trying to finish what they were doing before the bell rang. All, except Dudley and his friends that is, were working silently. Miss Anderson sat grading papers and glancing up at the clock occasionally. She looked up from the gold star she had just stuck to Seth's paper and said,

"Class I have an announcement to make. As you know we have a half day tomorrow so that I get to meet your parents during parent teacher conferences. I thought maybe that instead of doing our normal work because the day is so short we could have a spelling bee using all of the words we've learned so far this year. Does that sound good to everyone?" The class nodded enthusiastically. Anna raised her hand.

"Will there be a prize for the winner?" She wanted to know. Miss Anderson looked thoughtful.

"Isn't the feeling of a job well done prize enough?" She asked. The kids shook their heads and sighed. Teachers never understood that that was a terrible prize.

"Well how about candy for the winner and the runner up?" Miss Anderson asked with a smile. The word candy lit up the faces of her class.

"Yay candy!" They exclaimed. Miss Anderson laughed.

"Alright I'm glad you're excited. In that case your homework tonight is to look over all of your words in preparation for tomorrow and to look forward to having half a day off. I look forward to meeting all your parents and I'll see you all tomorrow." The bell rang. The students packed up their backpacks and grabbed their coats. There was a general buzz of excitement as all the kids looked forward to the early dismissal the next day. Elena went up to Harry.

"Hey." She said. He smiled.

"Hey."

"Are you excited for the spelling bee tomorrow?" She asked. He shrugged.

"I guess. I'm not a great speller or anything. I always second guess myself and get it wrong."

"I'm sorry," she said. He laughed.

"It's not your fault."

"I know. I'm still sorry," she said smiling. He smiled too and then changed the subject.

"I bet your parents are excited to meet Miss Anderson."This time she shrugged.

"I guess. My dad won't be there because he has to work and my step mom doesn't really want to come. So it will probably be a very short conference. I just hope Miss Anderson doesn't have anything bad to say about me."

"She won't," Harry assured her, "There's nothing bad to say." She smiled at him and his face blushed a little.

"She won't have anything bad to say about you either Harry." He shook his head sadly.

"I doubt that."

"Are you kidding me? You're like her favorite. She's always smiling at you and giving you stickers and stuff."

"She does that for everyone," he protested but they both knew Elena was right. The truth was the Miss Anderson felt bad for Harry. She had never really fit in when she was in school and she wanted him to know that she didn't think he was a failure.

Harry held the door open for Elena as they stepped outside. The leaves crunched under their feet as they walked towards the line of cars and buses waiting to take the students home. Harry felt awkward and wished he had something else to say to Elena but his mind was suddenly blank. He was useless when it came to talking to girls, especially nice ones that initiated conversations and gave compliments. Elena glanced at Harry for a moment and then said,

"Hey Harry?"

"Yeah?" He responded a little too quickly, glad she had thought of something else to talk about.

"Um, why do you tape your glasses like that?" She had always wondered this but it always seemed rude to ask. He seemed a little startled, as if he wasn't expecting her to say that.

"Oh," he said somewhat self consciously. "Well Dudley and his friends like to punch me in the nose and my aunt and uncle won't buy me a new pair. They seem to think it's a waste of money or something like that, because they say the tape works just fine. I don't think the tape works fine at all and I think it looks ridiculous but I guess there's no arguing with them." He sighed and looked embarrassed at having revealed so much information about his personal life.

"Well I think it's very innovative of you," Elena announced and then added as an afterthought, "I-N-N-O-V-A-T-I-V-E, innovative."Harry had to laugh.

"Hopefully I'll get that one tomorrow."

"No way," Elena mock protested. "It's totally my word." A car honked and Elena jumped.

"That's my ride," she stammered starting to jog towards the car. "See you tomorrow Harry!"

"See ya," he answered. Dudley sauntered up behind Harry and threw his backpack on top of him.

"Carry this," he commanded waddling up to their car. Harry, who was used to this, grunted slightly in an attempt to regain his composure and, when he had, made his way to the car too.

The next day the spelling bee was getting tense. It was down to the final three competitors: Elena, Harry, and Veronica. The words were coming fast and no one seemed to be getting any wrong.

"Veronica spell handkerchief."

"H-A-N-D-K-E-R-C-H-I-E-F, handkerchief."

"Correct. Elena spell piccolo."

"P-I-C-C-O-L-O, piccolo."

"Good. Harry spell fluorescent."

"F-L-O-U-R-E-S-C-E-N-T, fluorescent." Miss Anderson's bell dinged and Harry looked crestfallen as he realized his mistake. He had mixed up the o and the u.

"I'm sorry Harry, that's incorrect. The correct spelling is F-L-U-O-R-E-S-C-E-N-T." He nodded sadly and took his seat hoping now that Elena would beat Veronica and win. It was down to the two of them.

"The final two," said Miss Anderson excitedly. "Are you ready girls? The words are going to get harder." They nodded and Miss Anderson nodded back.

"Alright then. Veronica your word is plagiarism."

"P-L-A-G-I-A-R-I-S-M, plagiarism."

"Correct. Elena your word is turbulence."

"T-U-R-B-U-L-E-N-C-E, turbulence."

"Good. Veronica please spell inquisitive."

I-N-Q-U-I-S-I-T-I-V-E, inquisitive."

"Correct. Elena spell claustrophobic."

"C-L-A-U-S-T-R-A-P-H-O-B-I-C, claustrophobic." The bell dinged.

"I'm sorry Elena that's incorrect. That means that if Veronica can spell this word right, she wins." Elena looked sad and Veronica looked excited.

"C-L-A-U-S-T-R-O-P-H-O-B-I-C, claustrophobic."

"And we have a winner!" Miss Anderson exclaimed. "Congratulations Veronica, and you too Elena, for making it to the final round. As promised I have a candy prize for each of you. Excellent spelling everyone." Elena and Veronica got their candy from Miss Anderson and put it in their desks. Everyone filed out of the room for PE class because it wasn't time to go home yet.

"Good bee," Elena told Veronica. "I can't believe I mixed up the O with an A."

"I totally would have done the same thing if I hadn't heard you spell it that way," Veronica reassured her. "Besides you knew how many C's were in accumulate in the third round. I would have been out on that one for sure."

"I guess I'm just awesome," she joked.

With about ten minutes left before the day was over all of the kids got back to class and began packing up their backpacks. Veronica opened her desk and immediately noticed that something was wrong.

"Miss Anderson, my candy is gone!"

"What?" Asked Miss Anderson, startled.

"My candy, it's gone! I think someone stole it!" Miss Anderson tried to reassure her.

"Calm down Veronica I'm sure there's a very logical explanation for this." She said.

"Yeah," Dudley sniggered, "Like maybe you ate it."

"I didn't eat it!" Veronica protested. "I was going to save it and share it with my friends after school."

"Sure you were," Gordon taunted. "We know you weren't going to just save it and eat it all yourself or anything."

"Yeah and then ask Miss Anderson for more and claim it was stolen." Piers chimed in.

"Why would I do that?" Veronica said disgustedly. "That's something you would do. Come to think of it, you guys seemed to have that all thought out like you planned it or something." She raised her eyebrows at them in an attempt to look threatening. Miss Anderson stepped in.

"Alright everyone needs to calm down. Boys, stop accusing Veronica of making up the fact that someone stole your candy. Veronica, stop accusing the boys of stealing it."

"But Miss Anderson!"

"No buts." Miss Anderson sighed and addressed the class as a whole. "I really didn't want to have to say anything but apparently now I do. Stealing will not be tolerated in this classroom. Ever. Do I make myself clear?" The class nodded in understanding.

"Good. That being said, I will always give you a chance to come clean without punishment. If whoever stole Veronica's candy comes forward now and admits their crime, they won't be punished. But if they don't, and I find out who it was, the punishment will be very severe. Do you all understand that?" Again everyone nodded.

"Good. Now, does anyone want to admit that they stole Veronica's candy?" Unsurprisingly no one did. Miss Anderson sighed.

"Very well then. Just know that when I find out who it was he or she will be punished very severely." Veronica pouted off to the side.

"I still don't have my prize though." Elena walked over to her.

"Do you want to share my candy Veronica? You did win after all." Veronica shook her head.

"No, don't worry about it. It's really not a big deal. Thanks though." She smiled at her friend. Just then the bell signaling the end of school rang.

"Veronica," Miss Anderson stopped her as she went to walk out the door. "I'm sorry about what happened. I'll bring you some more candy tomorrow alright?"

"Oh, thanks Miss Anderson. Like I told Elena though, it's really not that big a deal."

"I know," Miss Anderson said. "But you're a good speller and you did a good job in the bee today and I want to reward that." Veronica smiled at her teacher.

"Thanks Miss Anderson. I'll see you tomorrow!" Miss Anderson waved goodbye as the rest of the students trickled out.

Harry meanwhile had been walking about two feet behind Dudley and his friends as they took Veronica's candy out of Malcolm's backpack shared it around the group.

"Great idea Dud," Gordon whispered.

"You sure you don't want to admit your crime?" Piers said sarcastically. They all laughed.

"Yeah right was I gonna come forward," said Dudley hitching up his jeans. "The look on Veronica's face was almost better than taking her precious candy. I really thought she was going to cry. That was priceless." They all laughed again and Harry looked down at the ground. He figured they had been the ones to take the candy, he just wished he wasn't right.


	4. Chapter 4: Parent Teacher Conferences

**Chapter 4: Parent Teacher Conferences**

Meanwhile Miss Anderson stood at the back of the room making sure everything was in order for parent teacher conferences. She was most eager to meet her students' parents. As a first time teacher she wasn't certain what to expect, but she felt very excited and slightly nervous at the thought of meeting everyone. Suddenly there was a knock at the door. She opened it smiling. The first parents in were Veronica's. She took great pleasure in telling them that Veronica had won the spelling bee and what a great student she was. They smiled a lot and said that they were very proud of her. Most of the conferences went like that. The parents were pleasant, nice, and very polite. In the rare cases when Miss Anderson had to tell parents that their child wasn't doing as well as she thought that they could, specifically in the case of Piers, Malcolm, Gordon, and Dennis, their parents shook their heads sadly and confided in her that they agreed and just didn't know what to do about it. As the night rounded to a close Miss Anderson realized that she only had one conference left on her list. She had not met with Mr. and Mrs. Dursley yet. She straightened out her skirt, grabbed Dudley's file, and took a deep breath. Dudley was, by far, the most apathetic student in her class. She was hoping that by meeting with his parents they could find a way to motivate him to work harder. She heard a knock at the door and welcomed in the Dursleys.

"Hello," said Miss Anderson smiling, "I'm Elisabeth Anderson. You must be Dudley's parents." She shook hands with both of them. They introduced themselves as Vernon and Petunia. She smiled again.

"It's very nice to meet you both. Please have a seat." They all sat down and she took a deep breath again. Right off the bat she just didn't like them very much. Vernon was a large boring man with a very thick mustache and she couldn't help but think about how much it looked like a large caterpillar resting on his upper lip. His wife was thin and blonde and mostly let her husband do the talking. They made small talk for a few minutes before Petunia asked,

"Isn't Dudley just wonderful?" Miss Anderson paused for a moment trying to think of a way to answer tactfully.

"He's very…interesting." Was what she ended up with and it sounded lame even to her, so she added, "He seems to be very popular." Petunia beamed and Vernon smiled.

"That's my boy," he said proudly.

"There is one problem though with Dudley that I'm sure we can resolve," Miss Anderson started to say but Petunia interrupted her.

"Problem? How could there be a problem, you just said he was popular."

"Oh he is Mrs. Dursley. The problem is not with his friends but his school work. To be perfectly frank he has a terrible work ethic and no respect for my authority or classroom rules. He doesn't work hard, he's very apathetic, he doesn't study, he doesn't do his homework, and he refuses to participate in class." Vernon scoffed.

"Does he get good grades?" he asked.

"Well," she hesitated, "He's passing, if that's what you meant."

"Well then I don't see a problem!" Vernon boomed. "If he's passing then why even bring it up? I know Dudley's not the sharpest drill bit in the box but that's no reason to make him sound like such a disgrace. I don't see this as a problem." Miss Anderson was slightly appalled by his response. She thought that Dudley's behavior was something that needed to be dealt with. Petunia cut in.

"Look Eliza,"

"Elisabeth," Miss Anderson corrected.

"Oh Elisabeth, having friends and fitting in is more important than having good grades. I'm sure my Duddykins is trying as hard as he can. If that's not good enough for you then I think you need to get off your high horse and just accept him the way he is." She pursed her lips and sat back. Vernon smiled at her.

"Right you are my love. I couldn't have said it better myself." Miss Anderson stared at the two of them for a moment and then said,

"Well, if that's how you feel then I guess we're done here." She stood up to shake their hands and they stood up too. As they were about to leave Petunia stopped.

"What about the other one?" She asked.

"Excuse me?" Miss Anderson had no idea who she was talking about.

"The other boy, you know, Harry."

"Harry? He's not your son," she started to say but Vernon cut her off.

"He's our nephew." He looked disgusted, as if he wished that weren't the case. A light bulb clicked in Miss Anderson's brain. She did remember reading that in his file.

"I'm sorry Mr. and Mrs. Dursley but I'm not allowed to discuss people's children with anyone but a parent or legal guardian." They both looked at her like she was stupid which, in retrospect; Miss Anderson felt she really must have looked.

"We are his legal guardians," Vernon countered. She glanced down at Harry's file and saw, to her astonishment, that they were right. Now feeling extraordinarily embarrassed she tried to regain some of her composure.

"I'm so sorry I didn't remember that. Please have a seat again and we'll talk about Harry." Rather resignedly the Dursley's sat down again.

"Let me start by saying that Harry is a wonderful boy." She stopped because they were both giving her such hateful glares.

"Is something the matter?" She asked, starting to feel frightened. Vernon's fat finger pointed right at her.

"Let's get one thing straight missy," he threatened. "There is nothing, I repeat nothing, wonderful about the boy. He is an ungrateful, messy, freaky, leech of a human being who doesn't deserve to stay under our roof. I don't want to hear you say anything good about him when you had nothing good to say about my son. You got that?"

Miss Anderson was frightened by him, but more than that she was shocked. She was absolutely appalled that anyone would say something like that, out loud; to someone they had never met, about their own nephew. All the same she had wanted to say something about Harry to his parents and she wasn't going to let a bully like Vernon Dursley stop her.

"Well I'm worried about him. He's very quiet. It worries me because he seems very intimidated by the other children and he doesn't seem to have any friends. Specifically I think your son and his gang frighten him the most. Maybe you could talk to Dudley about including him more in," But she stopped because Vernon had stood up and his face was getting redder by the second.

"If my son and his friends frighten the boy then I say good, let them! I don't ever want to hear of you telling my son that he needs to include Harry in anything or of Harry tattling to you that he's _lonely_! I don't care about the boy, I don't care about his happiness, and I don't care about how many friends he's got! I say if he's that miserable he should go somewhere else and leave the rest of us in peace!" And with that he stormed out. His wife muttered something incomprehensible that might have been an apology and followed him out the door. Miss Anderson stood rooted to the spot, absolutely horrified. She couldn't imagine living under the roof of such a tyrant and decided she would be even nicer to Harry in the future. As he got a hold of herself again and picked up her papers, she wondered what on earth could have happened to Harry's parents.


	5. Chapter 5: A Meeting of Teachers

Locking the door behind her Elizabeth Anderson headed out of the school and into the crisp October night. Parent teacher conferences hadn't been exactly what she expected but they certainly could have been worse. She liked the parents, well most of them. The Dursley's attitudes had just been downright shocking. She wasn't afraid of them necessarily; they just mostly made her sad. It wasn't just because they didn't like Harry. It was because Dudley had so much potential and it was being wasted. He seemed like he had the ability to be very smart and hard working but wasn't because his parents did make him. It was such a shame.

Taking a break from her thoughts, Elizabeth realized that her feet had carried her to one of her favorite places in the world. It was a corner bookstore called Liberman's with a small coffee shop attached. She had spent so much time here they knew her by name and they knew her coffee order. Deciding that school could wait till Monday, she headed in for a new book for the weekend and a latte. She closed her eyes and breathed in the scent of the dusty book jackets. Feeling home for the first time in a while, she headed to the used paperbacks section. Most of the books here were trashy beach fluff but they were all ninety-nine cents and that was all her teacher's salary could afford. As she browsed through titles, a deep voice spoke from behind her.

"Can I help you find something ma'am?" She turned around to find a man with sandy brown hair and warm brown eyes smiling at her. He was tall and even with dark circles under his eyes he was handsome. Not stunning takes your breath away handsome mind you. Just kind, friendly, happy to sit with a book under a tree for hours handsome.

"Do you work here?" She asked realizing it was a stupid question. He was wearing a white button down, khaki pants, and a maroon apron; the uniform of everyone at Liberman's.

"I do." He answered. "I'm new though. I've only been here a few days. My name is Remus."

"Elizabeth" She answered, holding out her hand to shake his. "How do you do?"

Over the next few weeks Elizabeth found herself using every possible excuse to go the bookstore and see Remus. He was always there and always happy to see her. They would talk for a few minutes while he sorted books, helped her find one, or rung up her purchases. One day in late November she was standing in one of the aisles, paging through a self help book about how to deal with troublesome students, when he came over.

"Hey," he said smiling.

"Hey," She shut the book and glanced at her watch. "Oh gosh, it's really late huh? I didn't even notice."

"Yeah it's just about closing time."

"Am I the only one left again?" She laughed, embarrassed. "I feel like that happens a lot."

"What a nerd," he teased her with a smile. "Actually I wouldn't care that you're here except that I have to lock up tonight."

"Oh! I'll go then. This is kind of the least helpful self-help book I've ever read anyway." He laughed and so did she. As she turned to go he stopped her.

"Elizabeth?" He said, his voice catching in his throat.

"Yeah?" She turned around.

"I was just wondering, you know if you're not doing anything, I mean if you don't mind waiting while I lock up…" he trailed off. Her heart skipped a beat. What was he trying to ask?

"Yeah?" She asked again.

"Well I was just wondering if you wanted to get a cup of coffee or something."

"With you?" She asked her heart beating faster. He looked flustered.

"Yeah, you know, as friends. I mean it wouldn't have to be coffee it could be dinner, dessert, a movie, enchiladas, a cup of tea, ice cream cones…" He was rambling. She loved how nervous he was. It was adorable.

"I would love to get a some coffee." She told him.

"You would?" His face lit up.

"Of course. I like hanging out with you Remus. You're really easy to talk to."

"Yeah I feel the same way about you," He said. He smiled at her and for one awkward moment they both just stared at each other smiling with nothing to say. He cleared his throat and broke the silence.

"Hang on a minute while I turn out the lights and stuff. Then we can go."

As he walked away Elizabeth grabbed her coat and smiled to herself. "Men are so oblivious," she thought. "I've only been hanging out here for weeks trying to talk to him, hoping he'd get the hint and ask me out. Why would I say no?"

"Ready?" he asked reappearing.

"Ready," she said, smiling. He picked up her purse for her and placed it over her shoulder.

"Then let's go."


	6. Chapter 6: Coffee for Two

**Disclaimer: **JK Rowling owns everything except the characters I made up (obviously) :]] Please enjoy!

They stepped out into the blustery evening. The last few leaves of the season were falling to the ground and the air was beginning to smell less like fall and more like winter. Elizabeth went to step into the coffee shop that was next to Liberman's, but Remus shook his head.

"I know a better place," he said, "Come on I'll show you." He stepped off the curb and she followed, wondering where they could be going. They walked in silence. It was so easy to make conversation in the quiet ease of the bookshop but now that they were out here in the open everything suddenly seemed very formal and awkward.

Remus felt it too. He wondered vaguely if he had made a mistake asking Elizabeth out to coffee. He didn't want to ruin their easy friendship by giving her the wrong impression. Did he like her? Yes. Maybe too much. Probably more than she liked him. Could he date her? No absolutely not. He had made up his mind years ago that he would never date anyone. Never get married. Never have kids. He wanted it, certainly, but it was selfish. He could never inflict that kind of horror, of danger, of social suicide on anyone else no matter how much he cared for her. But he could have coffee right? He could have coffee with a beautiful woman without it being a date. They could just be friends. He cast around for something to say. Something to talk about. Anything. She broke the silence first.

"So where are we going Remus?" She asked.

"It's a little place called The Coffee Corner. Wait till you try it. They have the best blueberry scones you'll ever eat. Seriously they're amazing." She laughed.

"I like scones," she said.

"You'll love these," he assured her. The coffee shop was just around the corner now. Its lit windows shone like a jack-o-lantern in the night, looking warm and inviting. Remus held the door for her and they stepped inside. Inside it smelled like freshly brewed coffee, baking cookies, and cinnamon. She inhaled deeply and smiled.

"I like it already," she said. He smiled too and held his hand out for her coat.

"May I?"

"Such a gentleman." She responded, handing him her coat.

"You approve?" he asked. It wasn't really a question.

"How could I not?" she answered.

"Then let me buy you a scone and some coffee."

When they had their drinks and were sitting everything seemed more natural.

"You know I teach not that far from here." Elizabeth told Remus taking a sip of her drink.

"Oh that's right. I forgot you're a teacher." She grimaced a little.

"What's that face for?" He asked her.

"Oh nothing. It's just harder than I thought it was going to be, you know? Don't get me wrong, I love teaching, it's just that the kids are hard to deal with sometimes. Actually it's not always the kids. The parents are kind of a pain too. It's like, if I tell you your kid has been mouthing off in class I want you to do something about it! The other day I called this one mom to tell her that her son drew foul things on the board during recess and she had the audacity to tell me that it was my fault."

"How on earth is that your fault?" Remus asked.

"I don't know! All I know is that I'm standing there on the phone listening to her rant at me about how I don't know what I'm doing and if her son is misbehaving than I need to deal with it and all this stuff. And meanwhile I wanted to tell her that her nephew spent all of recess hiding behind trash cans trying to escape the kids that bully him but will she listen? No of course not." She took a deep breath and then smiled.

"Okay. I'm done ranting." He laughed.

"It's okay. I like listening." He took a sip of his coffee. "So tell me about this kid that's being bullied. Should I be concerned for him?" She thought about it for a minute.

"I don't know. I don't think so. It's really just petty rivalry between cousins I think. You should see this poor kid Harry though. He looks like a refugee camp victim. He really does. He's all skin and bones and he wears all his cousin's horrible hand me downs. And he has this terrible scar on his forehead too." She sighed and swirled her coffee around in her mug.

"Sounds like you really care about this kid," Remus observed.

"Honestly I mostly feel bad for him. He doesn't have any parents or friends or anything. I think he must be really lonely all the time."

"He doesn't have parents?" Remus asked incredulously.

"No. Apparently they died in a car accident when he was a baby. Poor kid's lived with his aunt and uncle ever since."

"That's sad."

They both sat in silence for a while. Remus was still thinking about the poor orphan kid when Elizabeth broke the silence.

"You work in a bookstore, maybe you can help me."

"With what?" He asked raising an eyebrow.

"Well, I'm trying to find a book we can all read together as a class. We were doing James and the Giant Peach but we finished it. Now we need a new book."

"I'm sorry. You were reading what?"

"James and the Giant Peach. By Roald Dahl. You've never read it?" She seemed surprised.

"I've never even heard of it."

"Not going to lie, I'm kind of shocked. It's really popular." He shook his head and looked slightly sheepish.

"My parents weren't really into, I don't know, mainstream books growing up." He offered as an explanation. "It sounds good though. You know, one of my best friends growing up was named James."

"Really?" She smiled. "Do you guys still keep in touch?" She could tell right away that the answer was no. His whole face fell and he suddenly looked very grave.

"No. He, uh, he and his wife passed away about nine years ago." She reached out to touch his hand.

"I'm so sorry Remus, I didn't mean to, I mean I didn't…"

"You didn't know." He finished for her. "It's fine, I don't, I mean, it was a long time ago."

"What happened?" She questioned, "If you don't mind me asking."

"I don't," he said and then froze. What could he tell her? He couldn't tell her the real story. Just the thought of doing so was laughable. Besides how do you explain the terror of Voldemort, Sirius's betrayal, Peter's murder, and Harry's shocking survival, all in a quiet coffee shop?

"A fire." He said finally. "They burned to death in a house fire while they were sleeping."

She gasped and her hand jumped in front of her mouth.

"That's horrible!" She exclaimed. "I'm so sorry."

"Thanks." He twitched the corners of his mouth into what tried to be a smile and tried to change the subject.

"So anyway, enough about my life. This kid at school. The one who's being bullied. What did you say his name was?" He took a sip of his coffee.

"Oh it's Harry." She answered. "Harry Potter." Remus choked.

**AN: I'd love to know what you guys think so far. Any advice of compliments would be most appreciated! I really like the relationship between Elizabeth and Remus but I feel like the story is supposed to be about Harry so I should go back to him. Thoughts?**


	7. Chapter 7: Coffee Continued

**Disclaimer: I made up Elizabeth but everything else belongs to JK Rowling. Please enjoy!**

Remus choked.

"Harry Potter?" He asked incredulously. She looked confused.

"Yes. What, do you know him?"

Know him? Remus thought. Know him? Well no. Not personally. But I know his story. I knew his parents. I know he's only the most famous wizard in our world for defeating the darkest wizard of all time at the age one. No big deal really.

Somewhere in the back of his mind he realized that dating your best friends' son's teacher is probably against the friend code somehow, but he didn't really care. All he knew was that after nine years of wondering what on earth had happened to Harry he had finally found him. He had found James and Lily's son.

"I think," he began slowly realizing that Elizabeth was still staring at him looking worried. "I think I knew his parents." Her face lit up.

"Did you really? Wow, small world."

He laughed but it was hollow and empty sounding.

"Yeah you could say that." He paused briefly and then added, "I was there the day he was born."

That's so cute! Is what Elizabeth was thinking but what she actually said was,

"Were you really? That's so nice." He smiled and nodded but his smile slowly faded as he stared into his cup of coffee.

"And I was at their funeral too." Elizabeth remembered what Mr. and Mrs. Dursely had said about Harry's parents dying in a car accident. She leaned forward, her eyes full of sympathy.

"Do you want to talk about it?" she asked.

Remus pondered that for a moment.

"No, that's okay." He answered. "Thanks though."

As he stared into her brown eyes he thought about how much he would love to tell Lily and James about her. He imagined their reactions. Lily would smile and say, "So Remus we heard you had coffee date the other day."

"Not a date," he would protest. "It was just coffee between friends."

"Uh-huh." She would answer; disbelief all over her face. "Sure it was."

At least that was the Lily he knew at Hogwarts. But she was so young then. And now here it was almost a decade later. Would Lily freak out that he was getting coffee with her son's teacher? Would they think it was funny? Would he even tell them?

"Good one Moony!" James would say. "Do you think maybe you can talk her into giving Harry an A?"

James was just like that. Always making things fun, being unexpected, and he was forever trying to find Remus a girlfriend.

"Remus?" Elizabeth's voice broke his train of thought. He blinked a couple of times and shook his head to clear away the imaginary voices.

"Sorry," he said looking embarrassed. "I zoned out there for a second."

"You were a million miles away." She told him. "Where did you go?"

"I was just thinking about Harry's parents." He answered truthfully, deciding for the sake of appearing sane not to tell her about the imagined conversation. She smiled sadly.

"What were their names?" She asked.

"Lily and James." He said. "We went to school together for seven years. They were two of the best friends I've ever had."

"James," she said slowly, "James and his wife who died in the house fire?" He nodded.

"Oh Remus. That's so terrible. I'm so sorry."

They sat in silence for a few minutes. Remus was thinking about what a tragic twist this coffee date had taken and Elizabeth was mulling over everything he had said. Two things struck her as sort of odd. Firstly, hadn't the Dursley's told her that the Potter's died in a car crash? And here Remus was telling her it was a fire. She decided that she must have heard the Dursely's wrong. There was no reason for their stories to not match each other. Secondly, if Remus had been such good friends with the Potter's then why didn't he know where Harry was? Why had it come as such a shock that he was in her class? Shouldn't Remus have known where Harry lived? Maybe even visited him a few times? That's what she would have done. She decided to ask him about it.

"The police suspected arson," he answered spinning lies of the top of his head. "They thought someone close to the Potter's set the fire. I was questioned and heavily suspected given my… uh… background." At this she raised an eyebrow but he told her not to worry about it so she dropped it. "Anyway by the time they were done with their reports, Harry had been sent away to live with a new family and none of us that were suspected were told where he went. Eventually they arrested the man that set the fire but still refused to tell us where Harry was. In the end I sort of accepted the fact that I probably wouldn't see him until he was eleven."

"Why eleven?" She asked.

"That's when he'll start at the same boarding school his parents and I went to." He answered. She nodded and then asked,

"So they caught the guy that set the fire?" Remus's face darkened and when he spoke his voice got very low and quiet.

"Yeah, yeah they did."

"What happened to him?"

"He got a life sentence in prison."

"Good." She said. "He deserves it." Remus nodded curtly and Elizabeth, getting the feeling that he didn't really want to talk about the arsonist anymore said,

"I have a class picture with Harry in it. Do you want to see?"

"Could I?" Remus asked quietly. Elizabeth pulled the photo out of the envelope in her purse and handed it to him.

"He's that one right there in the front."

Remus looked at the picture and his whole face broke into a smile. Harry looked so unbelievably much like James did at that age. He had the same untidy black hair but he had Lily's eyes. Lily's gorgeous emerald eyes.

"Oh wow," Remus breathed brining the picture closer to get a better look. "He looks so much like them."

"Does he?" Elizabeth asked. It brought her so much joy to see the look on Remus's face when he looked at the picture of little Harry. It was the happiest and most peaceful she had seen him look all night.

"He's really something special Remus," she told him. "I'm going to keep an extra close eye on him for the rest of the year."

"Good." Remus smiled. "I think that's a great idea." In that moment he decided that he wanted to keep an eye on Harry from now on too. With Lily, James, and Peter gone and Sirius worse than dead; Remus decided it was really up to him to tell Harry about his parents. He wanted to tell him about how Lily and James were always looking out for him. How they always gave him a place to stay and a hot meal when he couldn't afford one. How their door was always open, no questions asked. And about how he was invited to their first, and only, Christmas together as a family with Harry.

Remus made up his mind right then that he was going to repay them for their kindness. He was going to find Harry and be a part of his life. He was going to stop whoever this kid was from bullying Harry on the playground. He was going to make sure that Harry knew who his parents were and that he knew that even though they weren't there, there were still people around that loved him.

"Elizabeth?" he said suddenly.

"Yes?"

"Is your school hiring?"

**AN: Thank you so much for all the reviews! They were really helpful and encouraging. I really like reviews so if you want to give more that would be most appreciated :) **

**PS. Sorry about the cliffhanger. We'll get back to Harry next chapter I promise!**


	8. Chapter 8: The Accelerated Program

**Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns her characters and I own mine. **

Harry was asleep in his bed in the cupboard under the stairs, but not for long. Soon his aunt's sharp rapping on the door woke him up.

"Up! Up! Get up! I want to see you in the kitchen helping with pancakes in five minutes!"

Harry groaned and rolled over. He had been having this great dream about a white haired man with glasses who was teaching him to grow a long beard. He wanted to go back to sleep and keep dreaming, but he was afraid that Aunt Petunia would come back and yell at him again, so he got up and put on his broken glasses. He got dressed quickly and headed to the kitchen where he could smell the bacon Aunt Petunia had started to cook.

"The griddle's hot," she told him. He nodded wordlessly and began dishing out pancake batter. Not long after, the smell of frying bacon got Dudley up and he wandered into the kitchen.

"Morning darling," Aunt Petunia said giving him a big kiss on the head. "How did you sleep?"

Dudley shrugged and sat down at the table where he began piling food onto his plate. Uncle Vernon came in and sat down and Aunt Petunia brought him his newspaper. Harry poured everyone a glass of orange juice and they all sat down. Uncle Vernon unfolded the newspaper and disappeared behind it and Dudley began wolfing down bacon. Harry settled for a few pancakes instead and poured a generous amount of syrup on them. Aunt Petunia eyed his plate angrily and he put the syrup back with a very small, "sorry."

After breakfast Harry quickly washed and dried the dishes before Aunt Petunia shepherded him and Dudley into the car for school. They were running late and they had only just made it into their seats when the bell rang.

"Good morning class," Miss Anderson greeted them cheerily. "How was everyone's weekend?"

"Good," the class droned together. Veronica raised her hand.

"Miss Anderson I went to petting zoo this weekend and got to a feed chickens!" She exclaimed. Miss Anderson smiled at her.

"That sounds like a lot of fun Veronica."

"It was! And there was this goat and I got to pet it and it at corn right out of my hand. My brother told me that it would eat my fingers off but it didn't and then we all got apple cider."

"My Uncle has a farm with goats." Sophie interjected excitedly. "One time one of his goats had babies and I got to hold it and feed it a bottle of warm milk."

"Why does she always have to one up me?" Veronica muttered angrily. "No one cares about your stupid Uncle and his stupid baby goats."

"Shhh," Elena hissed. "Don't be a jerk."

"My brother came home from University for the weekend so I got to hang out with him. That's what I did this weekend" Seth said raising his hand.

"That's nice," Miss Anderson said. "What's he studying?"

"He wants to be an engineer."

"Well I'm glad you got to visit with him. Did anyone else do anything?

The kids all had great answers. They went to carnivals, birthday parties, on picnics, out to dinner at fancy restaurants, and all sorts of exciting places. Everyone had a story to share.

"Harry you've been awfully silent." Miss Anderson observed. "What did you do this weekend?"

Harry looked up, startled. He had spent the weekend cleaning out the fireplaces and scrubbing the bathroom but he wasn't about to tell the class that.

"Um," he stuttered, "nothing interesting." Miss Anderson looked at him sadly for a minute and he wished he had had something to say. He wished he had parents that took him to petting zoos like Veronica's parents or an older brother to come visit like Seth. He wished he could go on vacation over the summer and come back full of stories about swimming with dolphins and seeing coral reefs. He wished that he could have birthday parties with cake and presents and clowns that twist you balloons into any shape you want. He wished he could have real clothes, real glasses, and real parents. He wished he could have a real childhood. He looked down at his desk so that he could stop making eye contact with Miss Anderson.

"Maybe next weekend then," Miss Anderson responded to his silence. Veronica waved her hand in the air again.

"Yes Veronica?"

"Miss Anderson what did you do this weekend?" She asked. The whole class suddenly looked a lot more interested.

"What did I do this weekend?" Miss Anderson mused. "Well I graded your tests,"

"That's boring," Gordon muttered.

"And I got coffee with a friend and helped him fill out a job application."

"Him?" Veronica asked, excited. "Was it like, a date?" Miss Anderson shook her head and laughed.

"No Veronica it was just coffee."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes I'm sure. He works at the school now so I guess it was strictly professional."

"Oh." She looked slightly crestfallen. "Well, do you have a boyfriend?"

"Okay," Miss Anderson exclaimed clasping her hands together. "What's say we get to work?"

Later that day right before the bell rang for recess Miss Anderson made an announcement.

"Will Harry, Elena, Seth, Anna, and Sophie please stay behind for a few minutes? I need to talk to you all."

A collective, "Oooohhh, what did you do?" rose from the class.

"It's nothing bad," Miss Anderson assured the frightened ten year olds as she shooed the rest of the class out for recess. Nervously, they approached her desk.

"You all really need to stop looking so scared. The reason I want to talk to you is because the school has decided to try out an accelerated reading and math program for the students that placed high enough on the standardized tests we took last week. You five had the highest test scores so, with yours and your parents' permission of course, we would like to place you in higher level classes for part of the day. You're obviously capable of more than the other students in this class and we want to reward you with material that will actually be challenging.

"You're rewarding us by making us do more work?" Anna asked. "That doesn't seem fair." Miss Anderson shook her head.

"It'll be a good thing I promise. I think you'll like it better because you'll be able to move at a faster pace and, because there are less of you, it will be more individualized learning."

"Will you still be our teacher?" Harry asked looking nervous. He didn't want to do this if some other mean teacher was going to come back and judge him.

"No," She answered and his face fell. "I'll be your teacher for science and history and such but for all language arts and math classes you'll have new teacher."

"Who is it?" Seth asked.

"His name is Mr. Lupin and the school just hired him."

"Is this the friend you were talking about?" Sophie asked, giggling. Miss Anderson sighed.

"Yes."

"Well is he a good teacher?" Seth asked very seriously.

"He's excellent." She assured him. "He really has a passion for kids and teaching. Plus he's really smart and very kind. I think you'll learn a lot from him."

The kids nodded; their eyes wide and trusting. If Miss Anderson thought he was worthwhile then they would give him a chance. She smiled brightly at them.

"Good! I'm glad you're all willing to try this out. What I need you to do is get your parents," she glanced sideways at Harry for a moment and then added, "or guardians to sign this form explaining what the program is and then just turn it in to me tomorrow. Just let your parents know that if they have any questions at all they can always email me." The kids took the forms and the bell rang for the end of recess and all of the other kids began filing inside.

"Oh man," Seth said. "We missed recess."

Later that night while Harry finished chopping up carrots for the stew they were making for dinner he wondered what the best way to approach his Aunt and Uncle about the form would be. A horrible thought occurred to him; what if they said no? They always hated that he got better grades than Dudley, but being put into an accelerated program? They were going to flip.

He decided to wait until after dinner when his aunt and uncle would be full and happy. All through dinner he fidgeted nervously and during dessert he spoke up.

"Um Aunt Petunia? Uncle Vernon?" They glared at him. He wasn't surprised. They hated it when he asked questions.

"What?" Aunt Petunia asked sourly. Harry took a deep breath.

"Um, okay, so, um, in school today a few of us got selected to be in an accelerated reading and math program because um we did well on standardized tests and I was one of the kids selected so um will you sign this form saying I can do it?" He said this all very fast and in one breath. They had all stopped eating at this point and were just looking at him.

"Is that why she made you all stay inside during recess?" Dudley asked. Harry nodded. His Aunt and Uncle just looked at each other.

"So let me get this straight," Uncle Vernon said, "Some snot nosed teacher, who already tried to tell me once that my son isn't good enough, is now trying to one up that by putting a scrawny dumb brat like you in an accelerated program? That's just unacceptable." Aunt Petunia sniffed loudly.

"Too true Vernon. As if we would actually believe that you," she glared pointedly at Harry, "are smart enough to take harder classes. That's laughable really."

Harry felt like someone had punched him hard in the ribs and was finding it difficult to talk.

"I am smart," he choked out. "I am." They all just laughed at him.

"Do you have the form?" Uncle Vernon asked. Harry walked over to his backpack and pulled it out.

"Bring it to me," Uncle Vernon commanded. Harry walked over and placed the form in his large purple hand. He read it over and his face got very red.

"Oh no no. Oh this won't do. I can't have my nephew seem like he does better than my son. How would that make Dudley look?" And, almost smiling, Uncle Vernon took the form and tore it to pieces right in front of Harry's horrified face. Dudley laughed and turned back to the television. Uncle Vernon threw the pieces of paper on the floor and turned back to his pie.

"Clean that up," he told Harry gesturing to the paper, "We told you not to ask questions."

**A/N: Sorry about how long it took to update! I'll try to be better about that. Anyway your reviews are always appreciated and they make me write faster :)**


	9. Chapter 9: Spontaneous Combustion

**Disclaimer: I borrowed Harry, Remus, Petunia, Vernon, and Dudley. They actually belong to J.K Rowling.**

**Thank you all so much to everyone who reviewed and made this story a favorite! It's crazy to me how many people like this as much as I do. I'm so thankful for all of you. Please keep reviewing and letting me know how you like it or how I can improve :]] **

Harry was so angry at his aunt and uncle he could hardly control it. His hands shook as he cleaned up the pieces of ripped paper that Uncle Vernon had left on the ground. He stomped over to the trash can and threw the paper in. That's when he noticed them start to smoke. Before he could react, the paper lit on fire and began to melt the plastic bag the trash was in. Panicking, Harry grabbed the pitcher of water from the table and threw it on the flames. They went out immediately and left the smell of burnt paper and plastic behind. Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon smelled the smoke and came running in.

"What the blazes did you do boy?" Uncle Vernon yelled angrily. Aunt Petunia glanced into the trash can and saw the remains of the fire.

"Did you light the trash on fire?" She asked angrily. Harry, eyes wide in fright at his aunt and uncle's fury, shook his head no.

"What do you mean no?" Uncle Vernon asked incredulously. "The evidence is right there. Do you think we're stupid?"

Yes, Harry thought. But instead he shook his head no again and tried to explain.

"The paper lit itself on fire. I threw it in the trash and it just burst into flame, I swear!" Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon looked at each other darkly.

"Do you really expect us to believe that?" Uncle Vernon asked, his wide red face getting very close to Harry's. "Do you really expect us to believe that the paper just spontaneously combusted?"

"It's the truth." Harry said defiantly. "I swear."

"How dare you stand there and tell us lies you nasty, insolent, little wart!" Aunt Petunia spluttered, very white faced.

"Cupboard. Now. We'll talk about your punishment later."

Harry, glad to escape, brushed past Dudley who smiled gleefully and muttered, "Oh you're in for it big time," and ran to his cupboard under the stairs. He locked the door and threw himself down on the bed. Why did this always happen? He couldn't explain why bad things always happened around him. They just did. He hadn't meant to shrink Dudley's sweater, turn the teachers wig blue, or light the trash on fire. Weird things just happened around him and his aunt and uncle acted like he was trying to make them happen. He didn't know how to explain to them that he would stop it if he could.

He slept badly because he spent all night worrying about how Uncle Vernon would punish him and what Miss Anderson would say about the form.

The next day Uncle Vernon was already gone for an early meeting by the time Harry got up so he was spared more yelling. His aunt didn't give him any breakfast but he expected that. Her pursed lips and silent demeanor told him that she hadn't forgotten anything that had happened the night before.

When they got to school Harry trudged into the building feeling hungry and slightly defeated. Elena waved at him from across the classroom and came over to talk.

"Hey Harry," she greeted him cheerily. "How's it going?" He shrugged.

"Not that good actually." She furrowed her eyebrows.

"How come?" Harry sighed.

"I got in trouble last night and my aunt and uncle refused to sign the form letting me be in the accelerated program. Now I don't know what to do." She looked slightly shocked.

"What do you mean they refused to sign the form?" She asked. He shrugged again.

"I don't know. I guess they just don't want me to do it." She shook her head in disgust.

"That's ridiculous. We need to talk to Miss Anderson about this. Come on let's do it now before the bell rings."

"It doesn't matter," Harry muttered. "I mean, I don't want to bother her or anything. I just won't do it. It's not the end of the world."

"Won't do what?" Miss Anderson asked coming over.

"Nothing," Harry started to say but Elena cut him off.

"Harry's aunt and uncle won't sign the form letting him be in the accelerated program," she said. Miss Anderson turned to look at Harry, her eyes filled with concern.

"They won't let you?" She asked, "Or you don't want to?"

"I do want to," Harry protested. "Really I do. They just don't want people to think that I'm better than Dudley and they think I'm not smart enough."

"Well that's ridiculous." Miss Anderson scoffed. "Didn't they read the form?" Harry nodded.

"My uncle read it," he said. And then added as an afterthought, "And then ripped it up and threw it on the floor."

"He did what?" Miss Anderson asked in shock.

"He threw it on the floor and told me not to ask any more questions." Harry answered looking at the ground. Miss Anderson took a deep breath to calm herself. She was frustrated with Mr. and Mrs. Dursley's lack of cooperation and total disregard for Harry and Dudley's education. If Dudley didn't want to learn than that was fine with her. But Harry did and they just weren't letting him. Well she wasn't okay with that.

"How about I call them this afternoon and see if we can't work something out? Would that be okay Harry?" She asked. Harry thought about it, still avoiding making eye contact with his teacher.

"That probably won't help," he said softly.

"Well we might as well give it a shot. I'll call around 4:30. See if I can't get them to reconsider." Harry looked up at her; his eyes were wide and full of fear.

"Do you think that will work?" He asked.

"I don't know," she answered truthfully. "But I've got to try."

At 3:30 Elizabeth Anderson sat at her desk making notes on a piece of paper about all of the things she wanted to mention to Petunia Dursley when she called in an hour. She tapped a pen on the desk with impatience but jumped when there was a slight knock on the door. Remus opened it and stuck his head through.

"Mind if I come in?" She shook her head no and he stepped inside.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything." He said.

"No, no. Not at all," she said smiling. "I am going to have to kick you out at four thirty though."

"Oh?" He said raising an eyebrow. "How come?" She sighed and leaned back in her chair.

"I have to call a parent about something. Oh wait, this actually applies to you. I have to call Harry's aunt about why they won't let him be in the accelerated program." Remus's eyebrows furrowed.

"They won't?" He asked. She shook her head.

"No. And it's for some stupid reason too. The poor kid is just so upset. He's trying to pretend like it's not a big deal but I can tell he's really disappointed."

"Well with good reason! Is there anything I can do to help?" Remus asked. Elizabeth pondered that for a moment before saying,

"I don't see what. I'm going to call but besides that I don't see what we can do." Remus looked thoughtful for a moment.

"Not that I'm advocating for this or anything," he started, "but couldn't you just lie to them and say Harry isn't doing it but let him do it anyway?"

"I actually thought of that." She answered. "But his cousin is in the class and I'm afraid he would tell. I'm just, I'm afraid to get Harry in more trouble." Remus nodded.

"I understand," he said. In his mind he saw James and Lily's outrage at the Dursley's behavior. Lily would be ferociously angry, her face turning the same color as her hair.

"Petunia!" She would yell, her green eyes blazing. "How dare you treat my son this way? How dare you take opportunities away from my son like this? You're being ridiculous and you know it. Stop taking your frustration with me out on Harry." And James would be right alongside her.

"Vernon please be reasonable," he would say. "Harry's a great kid. Why won't you let him have this?" But of course they would be angry with Remus too.

"Moony," James would address him. "Moony you see what Lily's sister is doing to my son. Aren't you going to do something about it?"

"What am I supposed to do James?" he murmured quietly. Elizabeth looked up from her notes.

"Did you say something?" she asked. Remus came crashing back to reality.

"What? Oh no I didn't."

"That's funny. I could have sworn I heard something." Remus shrugged and she dismissed it.

"Alright. Well, I guess it's time to make that phone call." She sighed. It was obvious that she was dreading it.

"Don't call," Remus said making a snap decision. She looked confused.

"But I-"

"Calling is impersonal and she'll probably hang up on you. Let's go talk to the Dursleys in person instead."

"Do you think that will work?" she asked, worried.

"I don't know. But it might and I have to do something to help. James would expect it." It was the first time since the night in the coffee shop that Remus had mentioned either of the Potters, and was ultimately the reason that Elizabeth decided to trust him.

"Well if you're sure," she said slowly.

"I am."

"Then let's go."


	10. Chapter 10: At the Dursley's House

**Hey guys! I know it's been a while but I'm going to try and update a lot in the next week or so to make up for the fact that it's been so long. **

**Disclaimer: I borrowed Harry, Remus, Petunia, Vernon, and Dudley. They actually belong to J.K Rowling.**

Remus and Elizabeth left the school and headed out into the parking lot. Elizabeth reached into her purse for her keys and then stopped.

"Should we take your car or mine?" She asked. Remus hesitated for a moment and then answered,

"I think yours is fine. If you don't mind driving."

"I don't mind." She said, "But are you sure? We can take your car. I really don't care."

"Actually Elizabeth, I don't have a car." He admitted. She looked shocked.

"You don't have a car?"

"Nope."

"How do you get to work?" She asked incredulously.

"I" he paused. The truth was that he apparated but he wasn't about to tell her that. "I walk." He answered eventually. "It's not that far."

"It's cold though." She said. "And it's snowing."

"Oh I don't mind the cold. I think it's refreshing." He smiled at her. She shook her head.

"You're crazy." She said, laughing.

As they got into her car another thought seemed to strike her.

"You _can_ drive though, right?" She asked.

"Erm, well, no, actually." Remus said awkwardly.

"Why not?"

"I guess I just never needed to learn." He said truthfully. Elizabeth put her key into the ignition and didn't say anything.

"What are you thinking about?" He asked her.

"You're just surprising, that's all." She answered.

"Uh-oh," He said, "Is surprising good?" She thought about it for a moment.

"Yeah," she said smiling, "I like that about you."

They drove the rest of the way in silence. Elizabeth was still worrying about what she was going to say to Dursely's and Remus was wondering if he was finally going to meet Harry. He wanted so desperately to see Harry again after nine years. Although he wasn't his father, or even his godfather, Remus loved Harry with his whole heart. He thought of him like a nephew, indeed he had always been "Uncle Remus" to the one year old, and thinking about the days they had all spent together made him smile.

Elizabeth glanced up at the GPS.

"What's the house number?" She asked. Remus looked at the address she had written down.

"Four." He said, "Number four Privet drive. She slowed the car down peering at the house numbers.

"One, two, three, there- four." She put the car in park and turned it off. Remus went to get out of the car but stopped when he noticed she hadn't moved.

"You ok?" He asked.

"I don't know if I can do this." She admitted.

"Of course you can," he reassured her, "Why would you even think that?"

"These people, they're irrational and mean. After the last parent teacher conference I thought that if I never talked to them again that would be too soon. I'm just so afraid that I'm not going to be able to get through to them and poor Harry is going to be stuck where he is." Remus turned and looked her right in the eye.

"Look at me, right at me. You can do this. You are smart, confident, very capable, and I know that you care about Harry. Just remember that you're doing the right thing okay? And even if they don't listen no one can say that you didn't try." She took a deep breath.

"I guess you're right. Okay, let's do this."

They stepped out of the car and walked up passed the perfectly manicured lawn to the front door. Elizabeth took another deep breath and rang the doorbell. From inside they could hear someone yell,

"Mu-um! Door!" Remus and Elizabeth looked at each other. The front door opened and there stood Petunia Dursley. Remus was shocked by how little she resembled Lily. He had been expecting red hair or green eyes or something that would lead you to believe that this woman was Lily's sister. Instead she was very blonde and her cold eyes held none of Lily's warmth or love.

"Can I help you?" She asked. Elizabeth forced a smile.

"Mrs. Dursley, hi. You probably remember me. I'm Dudley and Harry's teacher Elizabeth Anderson."

"I remember." She said cooley. "The one who had nothing good to say about my son." Elizabeth's smile faltered for a second and Remus cut in. He held out his hand.

"I'm Remus Lupin, I'm another teacher at the school. May we come in?" Petunia hesitated for a second and then pushed the door open wider so that they could enter.

"Thank you." He said.

Inside they could hear the television blaring and could smell a roast in the oven. Petunia showed them to the living room and they all sat down awkwardly. Remus noticed that, although there were lots of pictures of Dudley all over the walls, there was no evidence that Harry lived there at all.

"Your home is lovely," Elizabeth said. Petunia cut her off.

"What do you want?" she asked rudely.

"Excuse me?" Elizabeth asked.

"What do you want?" She said again. "Why are you here? Did the boy get in trouble again? God, they usually just call."

"Do you mean Harry?" Elizabeth asked. "No Harry hasn't done anything wrong. On the contrary he's doing extraordinarily well. That's why Remus and I are here. We want to move Harry into an accelerated program for reading and math. He mentioned that you and your husband were less than enthusiastic about the idea so we thought we might come and explain it to you a little better." Petunia snorted.

"Less than enthusiastic? Got that right. As far as I'm concerned the boy can just stay where he is."

"But Mrs. Dursley this is an amazing opportunity! Don't you want Harry to do well?" Petunia shrugged.

"Can I be frank with you?" she asked leaning forward a little. Remus and Elizabeth just looked at each other. Petunia continued but she had lowered her voice. "We took the boy in because we had to. I don't really care whether he does well or not. I care that he stays out of trouble and that he doesn't do anything," she paused, "unnatural. Do you understand?"

"But," Elizabeth spluttered looking shocked, "if he does this than he could be in honors classes for the rest of his school career. He could get scholarships to go to university and all sorts of things. I know it doesn't seem like it, but this decision could have an impact on his entire future. Not to mention that he'll be with kids that think the same way he does and so he'll enjoy learning so much more. Don't you want that for him? Don't you want what's best for him?"

Petunia simply shrugged again and Remus cut in.

"I know you don't care," he said slowly, "But don't you think his parents would want this for him?" Petunia turned her cold eyes on him slowly and gave him the most murderous look he had ever seen. When she spoke her voice was positively shaking with anger.

"Well unfortunate for all of us they're dead and I'm stuck taking care of their son. So don't come at me with that whole 'holier than thou' attitude because you have no idea what you're talking about. Don't you ever talk to me about the boy's parents ever again. Do I make myself clear?" Remus nodded, trying hard to conceal his emotion from his face. How dare this woman talk to him like that? As if there was a single wizarding family that wouldn't give their right arms for a chance to raise Harry Potter, as if he didn't mourn for Lily and James every single day, and as if he didn't already love Harry himself." His thoughts broke off as Elizabeth spoke again.

"Please Mrs. Dursely I implore you. Sign the form or I will continue to badger you until you do. I know you don't care about Harry's education but I do. I care a lot. Will you please just sign the form?"

Petunia Dursley looked back and forth between the two of them as if trying to decide which one she hated more.

"Fine." She spat out finally, her words dripping with venom. "I'll sign your damn form." Remus and Elizabeth both breathed a sigh of relief. Elizabeth handed her the form and Remus dug out a pen. In the busyness of the moment, no one noticed a small black haired boy slip away from the door where he had been eavesdropping, listening to every word that they said.

**A/N: Keep reviewing! Any ideas, advice, praise, or just comments are always appreciated. I love hearing from you :]]**


	11. Chapter 11: Mr Lupin's First Class

**Disclaimer: You go JK Rowling. Only about half these characters are mine. I admit that the rest are yours. **

Dinner that night at the Dursley's was a rather silent affair. Petunia told Vernon all about the meeting with the teachers and he was livid.

"How dare they!" He yelled, his face slowly turning from red to purple. "How dare they come here and tell us how to raise the boy! Last I checked we were his guardians and that means that they have to listen to us. Not the other way around."

"Too true," Petunia sniffed. "I couldn't have said it better myself."

Harry was sent to his cupboard without any supper as punishment but he didn't care. He couldn't get over the fact that his teachers had come all the way to his house just to persuade Aunt Petunia to let him into the accelerated program. It made him feel, well, special. And cared about. He couldn't remember a time in his life when someone had ever gone out of their way like that just to do something for him. He was too happy to even feel hungry and he liked it. Happy wasn't a feeling that he had a lot.

As he pulled off his glasses and climbed into bed something Mr. Lupin had said struck him as odd. Why would Mr. Lupin have said anything about his parents? "Maybe he knew my mom and dad," Harry thought, but he squashed it as soon as he thought it. "No, there's no way. They died a long time ago." There was no point in getting his hopes up, it made him too sad when they came crashing back down.

He put his glasses down on his bedside table and settled in beneath the covers. He wondered, for the millionth time, what his parents had been like. What did they look like? What kind of house did they live in? What did his father do for a living? Did his mother have a job or did she just stay at home and clean things like Aunt Petunia? If they were alive, would he have had siblings? Where were they going when they got hit by the car and why didn't he die too? And how does a car crash give you a lighting bolt shaped scar? He fell asleep with all those questions spinning around his head.

The next day in school Miss Anderson smiled brightly at him when he came into school.

"Harry!" She said excitedly. "I assume your aunt and uncle told you that they decided to sign the form after all." Harry nodded. He could barely speak he was so excited and nervous about meeting Mr. Lupin.

"Thank you so much for doing that," he finally managed to get out. She smiled even bigger.

"It was my pleasure," she told him. And she meant it.

Elena was excited too.  
>"So you're going to be in the honors class with us? That's awesome! I'm so glad." Harry couldn't help but smile. He was smiling more today than he had all week. It made Miss Anderson's entire heart glad when she saw that.<p>

After recess, Seth, Elena, Sophie, Harry, and Anna went to a small classroom next door for the second half of the day. It was time for their first lesson with Mr. Lupin and they were all more than a little apprehensive. They didn't know it but Remus was slightly apprehensive too. He wanted all the students to like him but the one he cared the most about was Harry. He had made a promise that he was going to help Harry and he was going to keep that promise no matter what.

When the kids came in he knew immediately which one was Harry. He would have known even if Elizabeth hadn't shown him the picture. The kid was a spitting image of James at ten. Same face, same messy black hair, same glasses, they were so similar it was slightly unnerving. But then, then there were those eyes. Lily had had the most beautiful eyes in the world and seeing them on her son's face made him miss her even more. He shook his head to clear his thoughts and turned around to face his new students.

"Hello everyone. It's so nice to meet you," he smiled warmly and they couldn't help but smile back. He was so friendly and so inviting that you couldn't help but like him.

"I would say I'll call attendance but there are so few of you that seems silly. So how about instead I'll call on you and you can tell me something interesting about yourself. Sound good?"

"Only if you tell us something interesting first," Sophie answered. He laughed.

"That sounds fair. Alright, let's see, I went to boarding school. Is that interesting enough?" Sophie thought about it.

"It's a little boring," she said truthfully.

"Let me rephrase it then. I went to boarding school in a _castle_." Sophie's eyes lit up.

"Did you really?" She asked. He nodded.

"There were towers and everything."

"Wow. I want to go there." Remus laughed and looked away.

"Alright who's next?"

Seth's hand shot in the air.  
>"I have a pet turtle that I caught myself this summer. His name is Shell."<p>

"A pet turtle huh? That's pretty cool." Seth nodded.

"He's the best pet in the whole world" he said, very seriously.

"Nun-uh!" Piped up Sophie. "My dog is better. I put a little pink bandana on her yesterday and she looked so cute! I love her so much."

"You have a dog?" Remus asked. She nodded.

"Uh-huh, a little white terrier named Princess." Remus smiled.

"Cute. Anna do you have any pets?" Anna shook her head.

"No, but in two months I'll have a baby brother."

"Wow, so you're going to be a big sister?" He asked, sitting down on top of his desk. She nodded, her eyes sparkling.

"I'm so excited! I'm going to get to help dress him and feed him and everything. My mom said so."

"Babies are gross," Seth interjected.

"No," Anna retorted. "Babies are cute. And they smell nice." Remus decided to cut in.

"Okay," he said, "Who haven't we heard from?" Elena raised her hand.

"I'm a brat." She announced. Everyone looked at her, slightly confused.

"Well, a military brat that is. My dad is in the army." She explained. Remus smiled to himself, "A kid who likes word play at ten. No wonder she's in this program."

"I bet you have to move a lot." He said to her. She nodded.

"All the time. I get so sick of being the new kid."

"I can imagine." He said sympathetically.

"Is that why you're new this year?" Seth asked. She nodded. He nodded back.

"How many schools have you been to?" He asked.

"Six," she said gloomily. "That's five too many if you ask me."

Remus for the most part ignored this conversation and looked around at the five students. His eyes settled on Harry. He had promised himself that he wasn't going to do anything weird like single Harry out or stare at him or anything. But as he took in the tattered baggy clothes and taped glasses, his eyes went immediately to his forehead and he stared at the lightning bolt shaped scar. When he looked at it, all he could see was Voldemort pointing a wand at baby Harry and it made his blood boil. He took a deep breath.

"Harry," he said softly. "We haven't heard from you yet." 

Harry looked up at his teacher and stuttered,  
>"There's-there's nothing interesting about me."<p>

When Remus heard this his heart broke. He was already upset that Harry was so clearly unloved, underfed, and unaware of how special he truly was. "If only he knew," he thought to himself. "If only he knew that he was magic and that he defeated the most powerful wizard of all time at only a year old. If he knew that then he would never never say that." The class looked up at Remus, waiting for him to say something.

"I'm sure that's not true." He countered finally. "Do you have any pets?"

"No." Harry answered.

"Hobbies?"

"No."

"Do you play any sports?"

"I'm not really allowed."

"Okay," Remus said, trying to come up with other things to ask. "Well what's your favorite TV show?"

"I can't watch TV," Harry admitted.

"You can't watch TV?" Seth asked incredulously. Harry shook his head.

"What do you do for fun?" Seth wondered. Harry faltered.

"I, I, um, sometimes, get to play with broken toys that Dudley doesn't want. Or I read books." He seemed embarrassed at having admitted to that.

"I like to read books too." Remus said kindly. "And you know what? So does Miss Anderson. She and I met at a book shop actually."

Harry could hardly believe this new teacher. He was expecting to get mocked or ridiculed because he played with broken toys and read books instead of watching TV. But no, Mr. Lupin could relate. He liked to read too! Harry smiled shyly at his new teacher who winked back before addressing the other four kids.

"Alright guys. It was great to learn more about you all but now it's time to get down to business. Don't worry we'll start slow. I thought we could begin by reviewing our multiplication tables up to twelve."

They did math for a while but then it was time for language arts. Remus pulled out a short stack of novels.

"This is the book we're going to be reading together. It's called _A Wrinkle in Time_. Has anyone read it before?" The kids shook their heads no.

"Good, then it will be new for all of us." He handed a copy to each student, pausing very briefly when he got to Harry to smile at him again.

As Harry opened to the first page he thought about how awful it would be if his aunt hadn't finally agreed to sign his form. It was only the first day and he already loved this new class.

**A/N: I hope you guys liked this chapter! I'll try to put the next chapter up as soon as I can but in the meantime I'd like to respond to some of your reviews.**

**Hi: I did like your story. Quite a lot actually :) To answer your questions: I love suggestions ( I put a suggestion someone made into this chapter actually), I believe you are my new favorite reviewer (of course I just love reviews period), I will gladly respond to you, and I don't really know how often I update. I would like to say it's every week or something regular like that but it's not. I can update four times in one weekend and then not again for several weeks or I can update once every few days like a normal person. I'm pretty busy so it all depends on how much homework I have and all that good stuff. I seriously laughed out loud when I read your review though. Thank you for that :]]**

**Dimcairien: I'm a huge of fan of Remus/Tonks too but this would be before they meet so I think it's ok. Most everyone has relationships with other people before they meet their soul mate. Thanks for giving my story a shot :)**


	12. Chapter 12: It's All in the Description

**Hey everyone, sorry about the confusion that happened with chapter one being at the end. Because this is my fist story I'm not one-hundred percent sure how everything works. So when I tried to go back and edit chapter one I messed it up. I know that was weird and I'm sorry. I think it's fixed now and I know how to do things so no worries for the future! Anyway just thought I would clarify that since some of you asked. Now on with the story.**

**Disclaimer: JK Rowling + me = this story.**

About a week later after all the kids were gone for the day Remus walked quietly into Elizabeth's room and shut the door.

"I need to talk to you." He said. She looked up from her grading and gestured to the chair next to her desk.

"What's up?" she asked as he sat down. He looked down at a piece of white notebook paper in his hands and answered slowly,

"This."

***Earlier that day…**

"Ok guys," Remus addresses his small class of five. "Today we're going to do some writing. Who's excited?" The kids groaned.

"It'll be fun," Remus promised. "But instead of writing a paper or a poem, I want us to work on descriptive writing. Who can tell me what that means?" Elena raised her hand.

"It's when you use a lot of adjectives." She said.

"Close," Remus answered. "I want you guys to use adjectives to make the reader really see what you're talking about. Make them feel like they're there with you. So, for the next twenty minutes I want you guys to write a description of your bedroom. Make it as detailed as possible. I want to really feel like I'm there looking at your room with you. Are there any questions?"

"How long does it have to be?" Seth asked.

"As long as it needs to be," Remus answered. "Just write until you feel like you're done and then we'll read them out loud to each other."

The kids pulled out their notebooks and pencils and got to work. Remus walked around answering questions as he needed to.

"Mr. Lupin?" Sophie raised her hand. "How do you spell aquarium?"

"A-Q-U-A-R-I-U-M" He answered.

"Oh ok. That's what I thought, it just looks weird."

Remus moved on from Sophie and found himself by Harry's desk. He knelt down by it and asked,

"How's your writing coming Harry?" Harry put his pencil down and frowned at the paper.

"I don't really know what to write about." He admitted. "I mean, I'm trying to describe it- like you told us to but…" He trailed off. Remus held his hand out.

"Can I see what you've written so far?" He asked. Harry handed him the paper and he started to read.

_My Bedroom_

_By Harry Potter_

_My bedroom is not really a room at all. It's actually just the cupboard under the stairs. It's small, dusty, and full of spiders. My bed takes up most of the space. Next to my bed is a very small dresser that holds my clothes. I put my glasses on there when I sleep. I have a small shelf that I put toys and books on. The ceiling is slanted, because the stairs are on top of it. Sometimes when my cousin runs up and down the stairs dust from the ceiling falls on me. _

Remus read it once and then again because he couldn't believe what he was reading. The cupboard under the stairs? That's the kind of place you put suitcases and cleaning supplies! Not ten year old boys! He was shocked and appalled that the Dursley's could be so awful. He had been to their house and it was certainly big enough to have three bedrooms. Or Harry could share a bedroom with Dudley if they didn't. There was absolutely no reason on earth why Harry shouldn't have a decent place to sleep.

'It's because they don't love him,' He thought suddenly. And of course it was. Remus had seen the way Dudley treated Harry at school and realized that he must have learned that from his parents. He wanted to throw up he was disgusted with that family.

"Is it ok so far?" Harry asked quietly. Remus looked up and forced himself to smile.

"It's great," he said. "I would maybe work on adding in even more detail like the color of the walls or your bedspread. You could talk about the texture of your floor or the smell of your room. Maybe mention the color of the light. Is it warm and yellow or harsh and florescent? Adding in all of those little details will make the reader see what you're talking about much more clearly." Harry nodded.

"Okay I'll do that." He said picking up his pencil. Remus stood up and went to his desk.

'He's such a good kid,' he thought. 'Even despite his terrible Aunt and Uncle he's still so kind and respectful. Lily and James would be so proud.' He remembered how much Lily worried about Harry's bedroom before he was born and smiled. She would spend hours up there; rearranging the clothes in the closet, adjusting furniture by fractional amounts, and of course she had worried to death about the color to paint it.

"Why can't it be white?" James had asked. Lily shook her head in disgust.

"White is boring." She answered, "And it looks like a hospital."

"Ok," James said, "Well what color do you want to paint it?" Lily bit her lip.

"I don't know. If we knew the baby was going to be a boy I would say blue. But what if it's a girl? We can't have a blue room for a girl."

"Ok , pink then." James said, shrugging.

"No that's the same problem James. You can't give a boy a pink room."She explained patiently. James nodded.

"You're right. Poor thing would grow up into a sissy. What about red?"

"Red? Really?" Lily answered. "No, absolutely not. Red is too angry. I want something soothing- like green."

"Green is Slytherin's color. We are not painting the baby's room green." James said.

"What about yellow?" Remus had called from the couch where he was sitting reading a book. "I mean I know it's Hufflepuff or whatever but it's gender neutral and soothing. Sounds kinda perfect."

"Yellow! Oh that is perfect Remus I don't know why I didn't think of that. Thank you so much." Lily said and gave him a hug. Of course it had taken her another two weeks to pick out the right color yellow.

"Yellow is yellow," James had muttered throwing down paint chips. "Honestly the baby won't care." Sirius had laughed and Lily asked,

"What did you say honey?" James looked sheepish and picked up the paint chips.

"I said, what about marigold lemon?"

"Mr. Lupin?" A small voice suddenly interrupted his thoughts. He looked up to see Harry standing in front of him.

"Yes Harry?" He asked, smiling.

"Sorry," Harry began, "I don't mean to bother you or anything but," This time Remus interrupted him.

"You're not bothering me Harry." He said kindly. "Don't ever think that you are, ok? I'm never too busy for you." Harry stared at his teacher for a second.

"Do you mind if I ask you a question then?" He asked. Remus didn't hesitate at all in his answer.

"Want to know a secret Harry? I love it when students ask questions. And there's no such as a stupid question, not in my book."

"At home I'm not really allowed to ask questions." He said so quietly that it was almost inaudible. Remus nodded slowly.

"Your aunt and uncle aren't the easiest people to live with are they?" Harry looked up at his teacher with shock and a little wonder in his eyes.

"What makes you say that sir?" He asked. Remus shrugged.

"Let's just say I'm pretty observant." Harry didn't really know what Mr. Lupin meant by that. All he knew was that this was one of the longest conversations he had ever had one on one with an adult where the adult hadn't gotten angry with him, and he liked it. He took a deep breath and then said.

"Ok, I added in the detail about the color like you said I should but now I don't know what to do. My story still seems awful short but what else can I add?" Remus thought about it for a minute.

"What if you add something about how your bedroom makes you feel? You know; happy, safe, tired, anything. That way the reader can connect to your bedroom on an emotional level too." Harry smiled and pushed his glasses back up the bridge of his nose.

"I can do that." He said, and headed back to his seat.

Elizabeth took the paper and asked,

"Remus what-"

"Just read it." He said soberly.

_My Bedroom_

_By Harry Potter_

_My bedroom is not really a room at all. It's actually just the cupboard under the stairs. It's small, dusty, and full of spiders. The walls were white once but now they are sort of gray. The floors are made of rough wood. Sometimes when I go barefoot I get splinters. My bed takes up most of the room. My bedspread is navy blue and it's not a bedspread it's just an old blanket. Next to my bed is a very small dresser that holds my clothes. I put my glasses on there when I sleep. I have a small shelf that I put toys and books on. The ceiling is slanted, because the stairs are on top of it. Sometimes when my cousin runs up and down the stairs dust from the ceiling falls on me. I don't really like being in my room. I get sent there when I'm being punished. My punishment is to spend days sitting alone in the dark without food and I hate it. My bedroom is not a nice place. _

Elizabeth sat in stunned silence when she finished reading it.

"How can-" She stuttered.

"I know" He said.

"They can't-"

"I know."

"I should-"

"I know.

"What the hell!" She finally choked out. "Remus we have to do something!"

"I know." He said quietly. "I've been thinking that all day, but what? We can't take him away from his aunt and uncle. We can't talk to them, they already hate us and besides it probably won't do any good. I don't know what to do. I just know that I feel so helpless and I hate it."

"Let's call child services-" She started to say but he stopped her.

"No."

"Why not?" She asked, an edge of anger in her voice. "Don't you care about him at all?" He looked at her sadly and when he spoke his voice held so much pain and so much hurt that she was sorry she'd said anything at all.

"Of course I care." He said. "It's because I care so much that we will do nothing. Harry, Harry needs to stay with his aunt and uncle. I can't tell you why and even if I did you wouldn't understand. I'm not saying that to be mean or condescending I'm saying it because it's the truth. Harry is safer with the Dursley's than anywhere else and, even though my heart breaks to say this, his safety is more important than his happiness."

She stared at him incredulously, apparently at a loss for words.

"Is he in danger?" She asked finally, a definite note of panic in her voice. Remus took a deep breath.

"I don't think so. Not at the moment anyway."

"Is this about the arsonist?" She asked.

"Who?"

"The guy who killed Harry's parents." She clarified.

"Oh," Remus suddenly remembered their earlier conversation. "Yeah, sort of."

"Remus please tell me what's going on. I just want to make sense of all of this." She begged. He shook his head.

"I'm sorry," he said and she could see that he meant it. "I wish I could, really I do. I just can't tell you anything else." She nodded her head.

"I understand," she answered, very maturely. "But someday, someday will you tell me?" He looked her right in the eye.

"Someday," he said solemnly, "I will tell you everything."

**AN: Hmm well I hate the title I came up with for this chapter so if anyone can come up with a better one I would be forever indebted. Anyway, thoughts? Comments? Suggestions? I love hearing from you guys. Plus I've updated a lot lately so I think you should review :]] **

**Hi: Interesting suggestion. I'd like one of the next chapters to be just Harry so I might include that. Thanks for reviewing again :)**


	13. Chapter 13: Winston

**So yeah it's all J.K Rowling's. I don't own anything except maybe the inability to update on time like a normal person... Enjoy though!**

Elizabeth drove home in a daze and lay in bed for a long time thinking about their conversation. Her morals were telling her that she should call protective services and get Harry taken away; but she liked Remus enough that she trusted him to make a good call. After all he had known his parents and he had seemed adamant that Harry was safer with his Aunt and Uncle than anywhere else. But that didn't make sense. Why would he be safer with them than with another family that liked him more? Slowly doubt began to creep into her mind as she realized no one was being honest with her. Either the Dursely's had lied about the car accident or Remus had lied to her about the fire. Either way she needed to find out the truth to keep Harry safe. She was terrified of defying Remus and calling the authorities but equally scared of what might happen if she didn't. She fell into a fitful sleep praying that Remus was the man she thought he was.

Across town Remus was sitting wide awake in an armchair by a fire. He had been staring at the fire for hours and still had no idea what to do. It had seemed like a good idea at the time to tell Elizabeth not to involve the authorities but now, with Harry's assignment still in his hand, he wasn't so sure.

'Dumbledore thinks he's safest there,' he reasoned. But what if Dumbledore was wrong?

'He's protected by Lily's blood at that house. Voldemort can't touch him.' But Voldemort was gone. At least for now he was.

'You know he'll be back,' said the nagging suspicion in his mind. 'He was never gone for good.' But he had to trust Dumbledore because... because he had to trust someone. Because Dumbledore seemed to have all the answers. As he sat he couldn't help but notice that the glowing embers were the exact shade of red that Lily's hair had been.

"Please help my baby Remus," he could hear her saying. "Please."

"He's my son mate," James's voice whispered. "You have to do something."

In the end he decided to write Dumbledore a letter explaining the situation. The old man was the one who gave him to the Dursley's instead of letting him live with Remus like he knew the Potter's would have wanted. It was sort of Dumbledore's fault in the first place so maybe he could come up with a brilliant solution. It seemed sort of like giving up or cheating in a sense but Remus didn't know what else to do. He loved Harry to death but had too much respect for Dumbledore to defy his wishes. He sent his owl with the letter and fell asleep as the sun began to rise.

At quarter to eight the next morning Remus knocked on Elizabeth's classroom door.

"Hey," he forced a smile. "I brought you some coffee. I was hoping we could go over the lesson plan for _A Wrinkle in Time_. I don't want my kids to go too much faster than yours." She looked up from the papers she was grading and nodded. She looked just as tired as Remus felt and quite grateful for the coffee.

"Remus," she said slowly, "We need to talk. And not about lesson plans." He felt his breath catch in his throat. He knew she was going to say that.

"I take it you didn't sleep much either?" He asked. She shook her head.

"I was up all night worrying."

"Yeah me too." They sat in silence for a minute. Elizabeth took a deep breath.

"Tell me one more time how Harry's parents died." He was startled. Whatever he had been expecting her to say it wasn't that.

"Why?"

"Because, well to be totally honest it's because something isn't adding up and I need to know that you're not a liar." He stared at her incredulously.

"I thought you trusted me." She bit her lip.

"I do trust you it's just that I'm new at this and I want to do it right and if I let personal feelings get in the way and one of my student's got hurt I would never forgive myself. I mean, how could I live with that knowing that I could have intervened and I didn't? I care too much about Harry to-" Remus interrupted her angrily.

"Are you saying I don't care about Harry?"

"No I didn't mean-"

"Because I do. He's like a son to me."

"All I'm saying is that-"

"You have no idea what it's been like for me for the past nine years! I have spent every single day wondering if I could have done something to save James and Lily so that Harry could have had a normal life. So that I could have my best friends back. I mean, why didn't I notice that something was up with Sirius? He betrayed James and Lily, he murdered Peter and all those innocent people, and he's the reason Harry is stuck with his horrid relatives."

"Remus don't-" She tried to say but her cut her off.

"I didn't notice anything was wrong with him! It's my fault and I know it. I don't need anyone to tell me because the guilt is always there. I'm haunted by the ghosts of my dead friends and all I can do to save their son in write one stupid letter that's not going to change anything." He voice caught in his throat and he buried his head in his hands.

"I'm sorry Elizabeth. I didn't mean to dump all that on you." She reached out timidly put her hand on his arm.

"You can't take all the blame for what happened Remus. You're only torturing yourself."

"I don't know how to stop it," he half whispered. "I don't know how to make it right."

Elizabeth rubbed his arm comfortingly and struggled to find something to say. She had no idea how to help him. Suddenly a sharp tapping on the window made her jump. She pulled her arm back and accidentally knocked over her coffee.

"Crap! Oh I'm so sorry. Did it spill on you?"

"No no it's fine. Here let's get these papers out of the way." She glanced up at the window.

"What was that?" Remus had a sinking feeling that he knew what it was and sure enough-

"It's an owl!" Elizabeth exclaimed. "What's an owl doing outside the window in the middle of the day?"

"Um, delivering a letter." She stared at him.

"What?" He walked slowly over the window and opened it to let the bird in. The owl hooted feebly and hopped onto his arm.

"Elizabeth meet Winston my pet owl. He delivers letters for me." She stared at him for a minute.

"Are you kidding me?"

"I am one-hundred percent serious." The owl hooted again and Elizabeth started to laugh. She laughed and laughed and eventually Remus joined in too. From her perspective the whole thing was kind of ridiculous.

"What's wrong with the post system?" She asked catching her breath. He shrugged.

"Winston's faster."

"And he really just goes wherever you want?"

"Yeah he's really smart."

"Can I touch him?" She held her hand out hesitatingly. Remus nodded and she stroked his head with two fingers.

"His head's soft," she said. "Hi Winston."

"I think he likes you," Remus smiled at her.

"Well I like him too." She dropped her hand and it brushed the letter tied to his leg.

"Hello. What's this?" Remus untied it carefully and pulled it off.

"It's from Dumbledore. He responded a lot faster than I thought he would."

"Who's Dumbledore?" Elizabeth asked. Remus slit the letter open.

"Just a friend of mine. I asked him for advice about Harry."

"Couldn't you have just called him?" Remus looked up.

"What?"

"Your friend, wouldn't it have been easier to just call him and ask him for advice?"

"Probably," Remus admitted. "Except he doesn't have a phone."

"Really?" Elizabeth was surprised. "How come?"

"Well he's really old," Remus answered. "Truthfully I'm not sure he knows how to use one." It wasn't really a lie because technically both of those statements were true. They were just completely unrelated to each other. Elizabeth accepted it though and glanced at the clock.

"The kids are going to be here soon. Is your bird going to stick around?"

"That would probably be a bad idea huh?"

"Probably." Remus strode over to the window and threw the bird into the air.

"Go home," he told the already flapping owl. Elizabeth just stared.

"Can he understand you?" Remus nodded.

"I told you he's smart."

"If you say so."

Remus turned back to the letter from Dumbledore and finished reading it in frustration. It said exactly what he thought it would. Don't do anything rash, don't take Harry away from his Aunt and Uncle, he's protected by blood there and Voldemort can't touch him, blah blah blah. He crumpled it up in disgust.

"Bad advice?" Elizabeth asked. Remus sighed.

"No. It says everything I figured it would. I was hoping that he would surprise me though." Elizabeth nodded and finished cleaning up the spilled coffee.

"Hey Remus?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry about calling you a liar and well about everything. I do trust you I promise." He smiled.

"Thanks. And I'm sorry too. I don't want you to think I'm...I don't know."

"I don't think you're... whatever"

"Thanks."

They sat in companionable silence for a few minutes until the first few kids started to trickle in and make noise.

"Guess what guess what!" Sophie shouted bouncing up and down. "We got a puppy!"

**Like it? Hate it? I love reviews :]]**


	14. Chapter 14: Christmas Time

**Two chapters in two days? Sometimes I surprise even myself. I had a lot of fun writing this one. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own nothing. **

Soon the crunchy leaves on the ground were replaced with a thick layer of snow and Christmas was right around the corner. The kids were wild with the prospect of two weeks off of school and of course presents. The classroom was decorated with red and green paper chains and lots of homemade snowflakes. Elizabeth had even put up a little fake tree in the corner by their class's pet fish. She had promised the kids that if they behaved they could have a party on the last day before break since it was a half day. They all brought cookies and punch and Elizabeth made each student a goodie bag with candy, festive pencils, and a miniature santa hat in each one. It was going to be a great party.

"Merry Christmas Miss Anderson!" Ethan exclaimed handing her a brightly wrapped gift. "This is for you."

"Thank you Ethan," She smiled. "I can't wait to open it." Sophie was the next one in the room. She had tied a big red and green bow on her blond ponytail and had jingle bell earrings in. She shook her head back and forth with fervor.

"Look I jingle!"

"You're very festive. Did you do that just for the party?" Sophie nodded and her earrings made more noise.

"Well you look great."

Soon the classroom was full of ten year olds excited for a party and a break from school. Miss Anderson's desk was covered in presents and gift baskets from the parents of her student's. She had forgotten that that was one of the perks of teaching elementary school. She clapped her hands together.

"Can I have everyone's attention?" She called. Her student's slowly quieted. "I have a very special surprise for you guys. I was talking to Mr. Lupin about how we can make this party special and you know what he told me? He told me that he could get Santa Claus to come visit us. Isn't that great?" Most of the kids were old enough to know that Santa wasn't real but a part of their hearts wanted to believe that he was. Their intense love for their teacher made them go along with everything that she said even though they knew it was silly.

"There's a problem though. Santa went off in search of some milk and cookies and now we don't know where he is. Do you think maybe you guys could help us find him?" The kids nodded eagerly.

"How will we know where he is?" Veronica asked.

"Well he left clues like this one," She held up a thin piece of paper with pretty curly script. "So it looks like we need to follow the clues to find Santa."

"What does it say?" Elena asked. Elizabeth read aloud.

"I_f you don't know where to look go to the room with all the books_."

"The library!" Sophie was excited. "The room with all the books. That's the library."

"You're right," Elizabeth said. "Let's go." The kids raced off towards the library and their teacher hurried to follow. "Walk please you guys. Don't run."

Once inside the library they all split up looking for the second clue. Soon Anna was holding it up.

"I got it!"

"Well what's it say?"

"_If you're in trouble and crime's at large it's time to see the man in charge_."

"The man in charge?" Seth repeated.

"Like the headmaster?" Harry asked quietly.

"Why don't you say that a little louder Harry?" Miss Anderson encouraged.

"I think it means Headmaster Reynolds." Harry told the class. They nodded.

"Let's go!"

"Yeah he must have the next clue."

They raced off towards his office and knocked on the door eagerly.

"Hi guys," Mr. Reynolds said opening his door. "Are you here looking for Santa?" They nodded eagerly.

"Have you seen him?" Anna asked. Mr. Reynolds shook his head.

"No but he must have been in here. I found this clue on my desk." Harry took it and read aloud.

"_Well you missed me but carry on or my reindeer might eat your front lawn."_ There was no doubt in anyone's mind where they needed to go. They headed outside to the front of the school where they found animal tracks and sleigh marks in the snow.

"He really was here!" Veronica exclaimed. "Look there's sleigh marks!"

"And look," Anna pointed out, "Someone left a pile of vegetables for the reindeer."

"There's a clue in the vegetables," Emily pointed out. "It's right there." She pulled it out and read,

"_Good thing my reindeer didn't eat the clue. For this next class you must change your shoes." _The kids thought about it for a minute.

"We change our shoes for gym class," Seth said. "We always have to put on sneakers."

"Yeah we must have to go to the gym." They ran off towards the gym and threw open the cabinet where they all kept their sneakers. Each student grabbed their own and looked inside until Dudley held up a piece of paper.

"Look what I found," he taunted.

"What's it say Dudley?" Elizabeth asked. He looked at her.

"I think I'll just keep it to myself. I found it after all and this game is stupid."

"That's not fair Dudley," Sophie whined. "You have to tell us or else we can't find Santa."

"Santa's not real," he shot back. She shrugged.

"The Santa in this scavenger hunt is real. And I want to find him."

"Plus," Elizabeth added. "He took all the cookies that you guys brought for the party. If we don't find Santa no one one gets any cookies."

"No cookies?" Dudley's friend Gordon was appalled. "Read the clue Dud." Dudley nodded and began to read.

"_Looks like you were just too slow. The room with paintings is where I'd go."_

"The art room!" And off to the art room they ran. Miss Anderson thought vaguely that she was too old to keep up with her energetic fifth graders and she was only twenty-four. Inside the art room the kids looked behind every painting on the wall until the final clue showed up taped to a fake Monet. It read.

"_You're all getting very close. Next go to the room where you go the most." _Elena turned to her teacher.

"The room where we go the most? Like, our classroom?" The kids looked at her expectantly.

"I don't know. Guess we'll have to go there and find out." The raced on towards the classroom and sure enough inside was a jolly man with white hair and a red suit eating a cookie.

"Santa!" The kids exclaimed. He turned around.

"Well looks like you found me! Good thing too or I might have eaten all of these cookies." Miss Anderson looked at Santa inquisitively. He wasn't very fat, he was quite thin actually. But he had the longest white hair and beard she had ever seen. A set of crooked glasses perched on the end of his nose and behind them were a pair of bright blue twinkling eyes. He looked at all the kids kindly.

"Did you have fun figuring out my clues?" The kids nodded.

"I knew we'd find you," Veronica said. He smiled at her.

"Of course you did because you're a very smart class. But tell me Veronica; what would you like for Christmas?" She gasped.

"How did you know my name?"

"He's Santa," Seth said. "He knows everybody."

"Who wants hot chocolate?" Miss Anderson interrupted.

"Me!"

"I do!"

"Me too!"

As she poured hot chocolate for her students she watched Santa interact with all of them.

"Are you really going to remember what we all want?" Sophie asked. "Don't you need to write it down?" He tapped the side of his head.

"It's all up here I promise." He turned away and his eyes fell on Harry who was sitting quietly eating a cookie.

"Hello Harry. Merry Christmas." Harry looked up shyly.

"Merry Christmas Santa."

"Tell me now. What would you like for Christmas?" Harry shrugged.

"I don't know."

"Well now surely a little boy like you wants something. What can I get for you?" Harry thought about it for a little while and when he spoke it was so quiet it was almost inaudible.

"I'm sorry but I don't think even you can help me. I know that you have magic Santa powers and stuff but all I want is a family that loves me." Santa's eyes behind the glasses were filled with pain.

"Never underestimate the power of magic Harry. You never now what might happen." Harry shrugged again.

"If you say so." He finished his cookie and then asked,

"Santa?"

"Hmm?"

"What do you want for Christmas?" Santa smiled.

"A thick pair of woolen socks. I never seem to have enough of those." Harry stared at him.

"Really?" Santa nodded very seriously.

"Oh absolutely. People always insist instead on giving me books."

Elizabeth, who had walked over to give Santa some hot chocolate, had caught the end of this conversation. She walked over to Remus.

"Where did you find this guy?" She asked, laughing.

"Who Santa? He's a friend of mine."

"He's... interesting." Remus laughed.

"Yeah he's a little eccentric but he means well. And he's super busy so it was really nice of him to come do this for us." Elizabeth smiled.

"Well I think he's a perfect Santa."

Suddenly a sleigh, a real honest to goodness sleigh with reindeer attached, flew past the window. Santa jumped up and inconspicuously slipped a think wooden stick back in his pocket.

"Oh no!" he exclaimed. "My reindeer are getting away! How will I get back to the north pole?" He started towards the door. "Merry Christmas to you all but I have to catch that sleigh!" And with that he was gone. The kids raced toward the window to wave goodbye right as it started to snow. Big fat fluffy flakes swirled past them.

"By Santa," Harry whispered. "Merry Christmas."

Santa returned to his study and sat down at his desk. He picked up a letter he had received a while back and re-read it sadly. He sat for a long time wondering how to make Harry's Christmas wish come true when suddenly an idea struck him. It was an idea so revolutionary it might change everything. He jumped up and headed straight to the fireplace to pop in on the minister quickly. He would need Cornelius's permission to go to Azkaban and it was high time he payed a visit to Sirius Black.

**A/N: 61 reviews! You guys are the best. Seriously I love you all. Great stuff is coming up in the next chapters and I'm feeling inspired. Guess we'll see what happens :)**


	15. Chapter 15: Christmas with the Dursleys

**Elena is mine but everything else belongs to a lovely woman named J.K Rowling.**

The bell rang and the kids ran out the door excited to start two weeks of vacation. Elena chased after Harry.

"Hey Harry wait up!" He turned around. She handed him a box beautifully wrapped in shiny paper.

"I just wanted to give you this. Merry Christmas." She smiled at him. He took the present and stared at it.

"Thank you," he finally managed to say. "It's beautiful."

"Well you still have to open it silly." He blushed slightly.

"I know that."

"You don't have to open it now though. I just wanted to make sure I caught you before you left."

"I didn't get you anything," he said slightly abashed. She smiled anyway.

"That's ok. I don't mind."

"Are you sure?"

"Absolutely." He slid the present into his backpack where it would be safe.

"I'll open it when I get home. Thanks Elena."

"You're welcome. Have a good holiday."

"Yeah you too." She ran off and Harry stared after her wondering what on earth she had gotten him. He couldn't wait to open his Christmas present. He was brought back to earth by a harsh thump to the back of his head.

"How's your guuuuurlfriend?" Dudley taunted. Harry rubbed the back of his head.

"She's not my girlfriend."

"Sure she's not. Carry this." Dudley dumped his backpack on Harry who staggered slightly. They walked to the car in silence.

"Dudders!" Aunt Petunia cried out when they got to the car. "How was school?" He shrugged and hopped in the front seat.

"Kind of stupid. We did this weird hunt for Santa which was lame. There were cookies though." She smiled at him.

"Are you hungry at all? I brought you a snack." Dudley crunched the chips his mom had brought him loudly all the way home. When they got to the house Harry tried to hurry to his cupboard to open his present but Aunt Petunia stopped him.

"And just where do you think you're going?"

"I was just going to-"

"There's chores to do. We have to get this place ready for the party tomorrow." Harry groaned inwardly. His Aunt and Uncle threw an annual Christmas party every year and it was awful. A lot of middle aged women who cared too much about their appearances would stand around in the kitchen drinking cocktails and complaining about their husbands while their husbands sat in the living room watching sports and drinking scotch. Dudley always got to spend the night at a friends house and Harry always had to serve drinks and wash dishes. He spent the better part of the next three hours scrubbing the kitchen floor with a toothbrush and then rubbing the white cabinets down with bleach. Dudley lounged around and ate chocolate and Aunt Petunia paged through a cookbook and tried to come up with a recipe that would astound her friends. Harry found himself thinking longingly of the family he had asked Santa for. He tried to picture how his parents would spend Christmas if they were alive. The problem was that he didn't know what they looked like. In his mind's eye he saw two faceless people in Christmas sweaters sitting in the Dursley's living room. Somehow that didn't really measure up to what he wanted. He sighed and continued to scrub.

When Uncle Vernon got home Aunt Petunia pulled the roast ham out of the oven and they all sat down to dinner.

"How was work darling?" She asked him dishing up some potatoes.

"Lousy," He took a large drink of wine. "Our two new interns just run around and messed things up. I don't even know why they're there. Apparently they're supposed to be helpful but I say we'd get things done faster if we didn't have them. You know one of them actually had the audacity to ask me if he was allowed to take a break for lunch? What a stupid question! Kids these days I tell you." Aunt Petunia shook her head knowingly.

"Mr. Lupin says there's no such thing as a stupid question." Harry interjected. Uncle Vernon turned to look at him very slowly.

"What was that boy?" Harry gulped.

"Never mind."

"No you said it and now I want to hear it. What did you say?"

"Only that my teacher Mr. Lupin says that there's no such thing as a stupid question."

"Oh well if Mr. Lupin says it than it must be true. You think he's pretty smart do you? Think he has all the answers?" Harry cowered in his seat. He wished he hadn't said anything.

"Well why don't you ask him why you're being sent to your cupboard without eating the rest of your dinner? Oh wait I'll tell you. Because you're an arrogant little snot who thinks he can say anything he wants to and just for that no meals tomorrow either." Harry stared at him.

"Please Uncle Vernon I'm sorry. I didn't mean to-"

"Go to your cupboard now! I'm not going to say it again." Uncle Vernon's face was two shades redder than it usually was. Dudley smirked quietly in his seat. Harry stood up and walked to his cupboard; tears stinging in his eyes. It was so unfair. He hadn't done anything wrong. He sat on his bed for awhile fuming until he remembered Elena's present. He jumped up and pulled it out of his backpack. With shaking hands he slit open the pretty paper and opened the box. Inside was a stack of books. He pulled them out one by one. She had given him _Mathilda _by Roald Dahl, _Hatchet_ by Gary Paulsen, _Hoot_ by Carl Hiaasen, and _The View from Saturday_ by E. L. Konigsburg. There was a card too. It read-

_Dear Harry,_

_These are four of my all time favorite books. Since we move so much I'm the new kid a lot and I know what it's like to be lonely. All of the characters in these books are smart and brave and have become real friends to me. I hope you like them as much as I do. Merry Christmas!_

_Love, Elena_

He read the card through twice and blinked back more tears. Elena was the nicest kid his age that he had ever met. He folded up the wrapping paper neatly and stuck it and the card in the loose floorboard under his bed where they would be safe. He then sat on his bed, opened up _Mathilda, _and began to read.

A week later Christmas morning dawned white and cold. Harry awoke with a yawn and found that he had fallen asleep reading one of Elena's books again. He closed it neatly and picked a spider off of his pillow. He could smell Aunt Petunia frying up their typical Christmas breakfast of pancakes and sausage and so he wandered into the kitchen before she could get mad at him for not helping.

"Good morning Aunt Petunia. Merry Christmas."

"Morning," She said stiffly. Harry glanced dejectedly at the Christmas tree in the living room. It was fairly bursting with presents but he was sure none of them were for him. He imagined that his real parents would have gotten him awesome gifts. Maybe a bike like Dudley's or a sled. He had never gone sledding but it looked like a lot of fun. Maybe his parents would have taken him sledding and then they could all have watched a movie together and drank hot chocolate with peppermint. That sounded like a perfect Christmas to him.

"Quit standing there and set the table," Aunt Petunia snapped at him. Uncle Vernon came in.

"Comb your hair boy," he said in his typical fashion. "For god sakes it's a holiday."

When breakfast was over and the dishes were washed they all sat down and Dudley attacked his gifts. His parents had gotten him several new computer games, a nerf gun, a football, a skateboard, a couple of new shirts, a lego pirate ship, and lots of other things that Harry was jealous of. Uncle Vernon got his wife a new apron, some perfume, random kitchen utensils that she seemed delighted with but Harry couldn't find a use for, a pedicure set, and a diamond tennis bracelet. She got him an assortment of ties, a mug with a picture of the three of them on it, an engraved pen, and some new golf clubs. To Harry's great surprise they had generously given him some old clothes of Dudley's and a bag of stale oyster crackers. No one yelled at Harry and Dudley didn't pitch any tantrums so all in all it was a very good Christmas.

Much later that evening after dinner had been cleaned up and everyone was upstairs for the night Harry snuck out of the house for a minute. He stood on the porch and looked at all of the pretty lights reflecting off the snow. It was quiet and peaceful. He could faintly hear singing coming from the church down the street. If Uncle Vernon had been there he would have complained about it but Harry thought it was nice.

A large and rather misshapen bird swooped past the streetlight and flapped toward the house. Harry hardly had time to wonder why it looked the way it did when it stopped on the railing in front of him and perched there. It was an owl. A beautiful owl with a package tied to its leg and sure enough the package was addressed to him.

"For me?" He whispered to the owl. It hooted slightly and he took that as a yes. Slowly he untied the package and petted the owl's feathers. It hooted again and flew away.

"Thank you," Harry called after it feeling a little foolish. Shivering slightly he slipped back inside the house and into his bedroom. He had no idea who the mysterious package was from but he was anxious to find out what it was. Inside the box was an assortment of chocolate from a company he had never heard of called Honeydukes. He unwrapped some of it and took a bite. It was good chocolate. Continuing to much he opened up the card. Inside was a photograph of a man, a woman, and a baby all sitting by a Christmas tree. Hoping for an explanation he looked on the back. It read, _Harry's First Christmas – December 1981_.

He gasped and looked closer at the picture. Staring at it he realized that he was seeing his parents for the first time. His Aunt and Uncle didn't keep any pictures of them in the house and he had no idea what they looked like. His mom was beautiful. She had long red hair and a kind face that wasn't even a little harsh or bony like Aunt Petunia's. If he hadn't known better he wouldn't have thought they were even related. Behind a pair of round glasses his dad smiled up at him. They had the same untidy black hair that Uncle Vernon hated so much. Both his parents were smiling and they just looked so happy. He stared at his baby self and decided that he looked happy too. Wondering who would have sent him the picture he looked at the card but it wasn't signed. It just said – _In case you don't have a picture to remember you parents by. They loved you with all their hearts. Always remember that and merry Christmas. _He stared at the picture long into the night memorizing every inch of his parents faces. He fell asleep with it clutched in his hand and a smile that verified it was the best gift he could have ever received.

**AN: I'm on a roll! Three chapters in two days. I think that means that it's time for you guys to review... :)**


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